stArt Project

Today's stART project is from the book, "A Piece of Chalk". This story is about a little girl who loves to make art with her sidewalk chalk. We read the story, and then headed outside for a fun afternoon out in the sun. We made rainbows (since we have been talking/learning about them this week) We drew Ella's house and our house next to each other (hopefully this will happen someday!) and lots of other fun things!
Enjoy!

Katrina's Running Adventures

Well today I have two stories to share with you about my running. My running is going well. I'm trying to get my mileage back up to where it was last September. Slowly but surely it is coming back. The best part so far is that I have lost 11 pounds this year so far!!! Only 13 more pounds to go till I get to the weight I set for myself!!! HOORAY!!!! So let's get into the stories already.

Thursday: Angie, Kera and I had our runs mapped out for that day. Kera and I would run first, and Angie would watch the kids, and then I would watch Ella for Angie while she ran. Kera and I got back it was a great run. Angie informs me that she wanted to run 4 miles. I get the girls situated with breakfast and lock the door, and I hurry and jump in the shower. I hear a knock at the door and I'm blown away that that she ran that fast. She informs me that a dog bit her. I call David he informs me that if the dog has rabies, that she will have to get 17 shots in her stomach. I go next door to see if my neighbor is home, and he won't answer the door. Then I notice that our other neighbor is home, and run to talk to him. As I'm halfway to his door. I see the Pitbull and his owner putting him on his leash. I yell across to him that his dog bit my friend, and the man doesn't care, and continues walking away from me. I yell at him again, and he ignores me. I run to Brent's door, and tell him I need his help. He is in his PJ's and has no shoes on. I inform him of what happened, and that the man totally ignored me. Brent runs across the street trying to stop the man. Brent was nervous that the man was going to let his dog loose on Brent, and told the man to stay where he was. The man told Brent he didn't speak English. Then Brent yelled back at me to call the police. I start running back to my house yelling for Angie and for her to bring me the phone, and right then Brent runs back to his house to get clothes, shoes, and his gun in case that guy let's his dog loose. As Angie rounds the corner of my garage The man is running down the street with his dog, and into a house. Brent and I run down the street to make sure he doesn't hop his fence and try to get away. We call the Police and inform them of what is happening. If you know where I live the Police are not fast to calls 45 minutes to an hour later they will usually show up. This time they showed up in less than 5 minutes. We explained what happened, and the Police Officer when and knocked on the door of the house. The man comes out to talk to the Police Officer, he states he doesn't speak English. Another Cop shows up to translate. Then Animal Control come to get a report from us and to look at the dog. (SIDE NOTE: why would you run away? Is he illegal? does the dog not have tags? Is the dog's shots not up to date? ) The Animal Control Officer explains to us that if the dog has rabies then Angie will have to get 30 shots in her stomach, not 17 HOLY COW!!!! He also informs us that the dog will be contained for 10 days either on the man's property or they will take it to the shelter, depending if the man is nice or not to him. One of the Police office drives up and states that the man says his dog didn't bite Angie. We all laughed and then she pointed to hand and said, "how did I get this then?" We were done giving our side of the report. Angie was afraid the man was going to egg my house, but he should not have let his dog run our development for 45 minutes without being on a leash and having its owner. (I will update this story when I get more on it) Angie said we should get Pepperspray for when we run.

Now let's forward to Saturday: Angie and I needed to get 4 miles in. We usually run the aqueduct towards my house, but that day we decided to head towards The Stengel's. People have told me NEVER to run it alone, and I always see people up there walking their dog or running themselves. The side we usually run follows the street so you are visible the whole time. On the other side you are not. It is not close to the road, and it is pretty deserted. When we cross Main Street I told Angie I had to pee really bad we had just left her house, and I had to pee so we ran across the bridge and I used her Mom's potty. 1 Mile is done! Then a half mile back to the aqueduct entrance. As we are leaving her parents house she informs me that one of her earbuds is out. We always listen to music while we run. It helps keep my mind off everything! Well we got back to the entrance and started down the aquaduct. We needed to go 1 mile down , and then 1 mile back , and then 1/2 mile back to Angie's house. As you head down the aquaduct we had to pass a development that a contractor walked away from when the economy turned bad. The houses weren't fiinshed, but from the outside they are nice. It looks like a ghost town since all the house have broken windows and doors. (thinking to myself--> If I was homeless I would totally live here. It is off the road and pretty exclusive.) We continue down the aqueduct till the pavement runs out, and then we turn around. NORMAL run day... Then we head 1 mile back. As we start to pass the housing development again, I have this urgency to turn to my left. I saw a little twinkle out of the side of my eye. (REMEMBER IT IS 10 AM) I look down and there is a man on a bike. He came out of nowhere.I smiled thinking he was just another person outside enjoying the sunlight, but no smile back. He is kinda creepy. He notices that I see him and he comes around the fence and heads back to opposite direction. At this point I'm kinda freaked out. I turn back around and he is up on top of the aqueduct catching up to me. Now I'm REALLY freaking out. Angie is pretty far ahead of me, and the only thing I can think to do is scream "ANGIE!" Thank goodness her ear bud went dead, or she wouldn't have head me. The guy noticed that I screamed out her name and disappeared. I run faster and catch up to her and pointing behind me and tell her ,"A guy on a bike is following us!" She looks at me crazy since no one was behind me , but then she see a man down in the bushes. There are 2 men following us. We start sprinting down the aqueduct and keep checking behind us. They have disappeared again. We get to the entrance and run back to Main Street. I call David and tell him what is going on, and tell him to call Elliott to come get us since they are still chasing us, but now they are both on bikes. David can't find the number he calls me back Angie screams his number to David and we continue running faster. We get to the light, and we can't cross there is too much traffic and the light isn't turning , and they are catching up to us. There is a cyclist riding and I inform him of what is happening, and he tells me that he doesn't have an extra seat on his bike. I tell him I just want him to be a witness. The light turns green and off we go again. Our legs are burning. Where is Elliott? We are almost to Angie's house and here come Elliott in the car. We hop in and go back to where we were. The men were gone and they disappeared again. We patrol the area, but no luck. We head back to the house, and David meets us there. I'm grateful for amazing husbands that come to the rescue. Now I have pepper spray, and I'm a little nervous to get back out there again. The treadmill is killing my legs, and my shin splints are torture, but what do I do?

Story + Music Lesson

Today we changed it up a bit. Instead of doing a craft with a story we did a music lesson with the story. Today's book is "Max Found Two Sticks" by Brian Pinkney. This is such a cute story about a little boy that decides to use different things to drum on. So after reading this story. Lizzie and Krislynn got the drums out and had a party. As you can tell from the pictures Lizzie tried banging to drum sticks on different objects to see the sounds they made. At the end of the story a marching band comes by Max's house. Lizzie thought it would be fun to be a marching band. So we marched around the house drumming all morning long.

Playdate with Ella

So let's just start this off with saying that Ella is Lizzie's BESTEST friend. They get along so well, and just have so much fun together. I love having Ella come over since she is practically part of our family. She loves playing with the girls and she is so comfortable with us. The other day Ella came over to play for the day, and oh did the girls have a ball. First they went out into our backyard which they call the jungle, and started searching for treasure. Let me tell you.. I know it is January, but it is HOT! The girls thought it would be fun to wear snow hats outside while they dug for treasure. They were out there for an hour ,and by the time they came in to go to the park they were a sweaty mess, but did they care? NO! After the park they were even more a mess since they thought it would be fun to play in the dirt. I needed to go to the store to pick up a couple things for dinner. The girls were covered in dirt, and I knew everyone was going to think, "This mom doesn't know how to bathe her kids!" Did I care no? I needed to go to the store and I had three girls so in we went. The girls thought it would be fun to shred the Ad. After a while we had a worker following us around the store sweeping up their mess. I told the lady I was sorry for their mess, and she just stared at me like I was crazy, and to get out of the store so they would stop making messes that she would need to clean up. I finally get home throw the girls in the tub, let's just say by the end of the bath the water was brown and gross but they girls loved it. I quickly got them dressed and out the door we went again. The girls didn't get naps and I thought maybe they would fall asleep in the car. After a minute of driving, the girls were out. We arrive at Shauna's house and we woke everyone up. Ella usually has stage fright but she just came in ,and enjoy the night with all of us Parkers. She was a natural. She was sitting on Papa's lap and laughing and having a great time. She made a sheep, and we learned about Ammon. It was a great night. Then we took Ella home, but oh did we have fun.
Now let's forward this story to yesterday... Angie, Ella's Mom, needed to run errands. So I got to have Ella again. We started our adventure by going to the Library to return some books, and getting some new books. I told the girls that if they were good then they would get a gummy worm. It worked like a charm. The girls were perfect. They held hands and sat down at the table and each picked a story to read while I checked out the other books. To myself I thought this is toooooo easy. Then we headed to Payless to pick up my boots. I told the girls if they were good I would give them a gummy worm, still it worked like a charm. The girls checked out all the different shoes, and we were in and out fast. A lady asked if they were all mine, she said I was saint for doing errand with three kids. I laughed it off and got everyone back in the car for the last stop. Then I was already across town and I needed some stuff at the store. So we headed to Winco. The girls were champs again. They each picked out a fruit roll up, and we processed throughout Winco doing all of my shopping. I ran into a couple moms who's kids were really acting up and they kept pointing to my cart, and saying "look how good those kids are doing! Shape up! What is your secret?" I patted myself on the shoulder and explained GUMMY WORMS!!! We finished our shopping and I piled the kids back in the van. I decided that everytime I need to run errand or go shopping to bring Ella since my girls act so well.Then we headed to Ella's house to drop her off. She fell asleep and Angie carried her in. When she woke up she asked her Mom why I dropped her off at home, and that she wanted gummy worms for lunch.
Lizzie and I are going to miss our friends when they move across the country. What are we going to do with ourselves? I guess we will have to get Ella and Angie a camera for their computer so we can talk. Oh how we are going to miss them!!! At least we have a couple more months together!

Rainbows... Rainbows... EVERYWHERE

Today we focused our lesson on Rainbows. We read books about rainbows, and practiced our rainbow making skills. We practiced our fine motor skills with making rainbow necklaces with fruit rings. The girls LOVED these since it was a fun craft plus you could eat it.

Then we moved on to a color sorting activity. Where the girls separated the different color rings into the corresponding bowls. Then we cut paper plates in half, and squirted icing on the plate in semi circle shape so they could make their rainbows.

A Bird Feeder

Today we decided to make something that the birds can even enjoy. I remember making these when I was little. Lizzie loved spreading the peanut butter all over the pine cone, and covering it with seeds.

What you need:
Peanut butter
Pine cone
Bird seed
Spoon

How to make it:
Spread the peanut butter all over the pine cone using the spoon. Once it is covered roll it in bird seed, and it is ready to put outside for the birds to enjoy!

The BEST Big Sister

Lizzie noticed how bad Krislynn was feeling, she has a really bad cold mixed with teething, and knew exactly what to do. She brought out all of her pillows and blankets from her room, and made them both little beds. If you look at the first picture you can notice that Krislynn is laying in Lizzie lap, and Lizzie is softly stroking her hair, and telling her to lay down and rest. Once they saw the flash go off they wanted a photo shoot. I'm so grateful that Lizzie is the BEST Big Sister. Look how happy Krislynn is since Lizzie took a could extra minutes to make her feel special, and help her know she is loved.

P.s I almost forgot she got them both a snack so they wouldn't be hungry

stART Project "Waiting for Wings"

Today we read the book "Waiting for Wings" The girls loved reading this book after we had our observational lesson about the life cycle of a butterfly. This book shows each step of the butterfly life cycle, and how the butterfly uses flowers. This stART project is super simple.

What you need:
Coffee filters (borrowed mine from our neighbor)
markers
spray bottle with water
clothes pins
The Book "Waiting for Wings" by Lois Ehlert

How to make the butterfly:
Lay the coffee filter on the table and have your child color all over it. Once they are done, have the child spray the coffee filter with the water bottle. (watch and the colors run together. Then let the filter dry. (I spend up the process with my blow dryer it took about a minute for it to be dry) While the filter is drying have the child color the clothes pin. Once the clothes pin and the filter is ready clamp the clothes pin onto the filter.
Enjoy!

stART project

Today's stART project is for a book that I love!!!! If you look at the picture of Lizzie and Krislynn holding up their artwork can you tell which book we read? We read Duck on a Bike. It is about a duck that thought it would be fun to ride a bike, and as he passes each of his barnyard pals they get the idea of wanting to ride a bike as well. So here is our finished project of Duck on a bike. The girls loved coloring their pictures. If you want to use the images I used here are the link for them:

Duck: http://thecoloringspot.com/images/animalpx/duck.jpg

Bike:http://comcastchd.vo.llnwd.net/o15/resized/6403c7f9-4cfd-4c7c-bd98-9b37015a7095.jpg

Enjoy!

Brownie Pillow cookies by Bakerella

Okay these things are heavenly!!! The whole batch ONLY makes 10 cookies, and each cookie is a 1/4 of a cookie sheet (my picture doesn't really show how big this sucker is) You can only eat one, if that, since you get such a sugar rush! Make them! Your stomach will thank you! Bakerella you are my hero! These cookies are a dream come true.
Here is the recipe:

Brownie Pillow Cookies
1 package brownie mix
1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

12 oz. bag miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Make brownies according to package and let cool. Cut about ten 1 inch squares. Enjoy the remaining brownies. (I used a pan about 8 X 8)
For the chocolate chip cookie dough, beat butter with a mixer until creamy.
Add brown sugar and beat until smooth.
Add eggs, yolk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.
Add flour to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in mini chips.
Let dough chill covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Use a measuring cup to scoop batter by the 1/2 cup. Since it’s chilled, you may need to pack it with a spoon. Then use the spoon to remove the dough from the cup and place it on parchment paper. Work quickly so the dough remains chilled or either prepare one cookie at a time so the rest of the dough remains cold.
After the dough is on the parchment paper, make an indention and place a 1 inch square brownie in the center. Press the brownie down gently and work the remaining dough around the brownie. You can use your hands to shape the dough into a ball.
During this step, I found it easier to use a piece of parchment paper as a work surface since the dough can get sticky and then I used another piece of parchment paper for the baking sheet. If your dough gets too soft, you can chill the rolled dough balls for a few minutes right before baking.
Prepare six cookies at a time using a large baking sheet (15 X 20) and bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator until time to bake the second batch.
Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.
Makes about ten cookies using a little less than a 1/2 cup of dough for each cookie.
If your cookies start to get too brown before they are done baking, you can place a sheet of aluminum foil over top for the last few minutes.

Another fun stART Project!!!

Today we did another fun stART project. This lady is amazing. She has come up with super easy crafts for toddlers to do that correspond to different children's books. We have been using her projects in my Nursery class, and the kids go wild about them. The book we used today was, "Polar Bear Polar Bear what do you Hear?" All kids like this book, and the kids go wild for all the different animals in the story. Today we made peacock in a zoo cage.

What you need:

Styrofoam tray
yellow and blue construction paper
colored dot stickers
scissors
tape
ribbon or string
The book, "Polar Bear Polar Bear What do you Hear?

How to make it:

You need to cut the yellow construction paper to fit onto the Styrofoam tray, Then cut the peacock's body out of the blue construction paper. Glue the yellow construction paper to the tray, and then glue the blue peacock body onto the paper. Draw the peacock's legs, and lines coming away from the body of the peacock's body. Then have the child stick the colored sticker dots on the lines you drew for the feathers. After they are finished use string or ribbon to make your peacock in a zoo cage. ENJOY!!!

Today's Science/Art Lesson

Today as I was making my bed I noticed that the butterfly between our screen door and slider had broke out of its cocoon and was drying its wings. This was a PERFECT teaching moment for Lizzie. We talked about the life cycle of the butterfly, and the color on its wings, the different shape spots, ect. Then I had Lizzie get out her observation journal and draw was she saw. I think her butterfly was so good. It had orange wings and a black outline.

Then I did a mental notation of all the other things she saw and was drawing from the window. I think the colors she used to represent the things she drew matched pretty well. I'm excited to use her observation notebook again soon. I loved that she kept asking me to draw different things for her, but I would remind her that this was her observational journal, and that she had to draw the different objects. After a couple times asking me to help her, and getting the same response she just got to work, and this is what she created.

Art Project + Craft

This is what you need: The Book, "It Looked Like Split Milk", Blue construction paper, clothes pin, tray for paint, white paint, cotton balls, and the quote from the book, "Sometimes it looked like _____________. But it wasn't ___________. It was just a cloud in the sky."

1st: hook cotton ball onto clothes pin.

2nd: squirt white pain in tray

3rd: dip cotton ball into paint

4th: let the child design their cloud

Then ask your child what they think their design looks like, and fill in the blanks with their response. Lizzie thought her cloud looked like corn. This is one of Lizzie's favorite books.

Enjoy!

Someone is a Sunbeam!

Today is a HUGE day for Lizzie!!! She is FINALLY a SUNBEAM!!! This means no more Nursery, and Lizzie singing with all the other Primary kids for every Holiday! I have been waiting for this moment to happen, and I can't believe she is so grown up. I remember the day when she was born, and just how little she was, but now she is growing into a beautiful girl. Krislynn wanted in on the picture time too. At the end of this month Krislynn is FINALLY in Nursery!!

*Funny Story: Look at the picture with Lizzie holding up the paper with all the letters on it. The class was just suppose to write out Sunbeam in the letters, but Lizzie wanted to show her teacher that she knew all her letters. She had to tell Molly every letter, and then of course stick it on her paper. What a smart girl I have. Then I guess they were making bows out of pipe cleaners to stick on their papers, but they weren't sticking so my creative girl told Molly she wanted it to be a bracelet. She was so proud of all her creations. I just love this girl!

2011 is FINALLY Here!!!

So 2011 you have A LOT to live up to since 2010 was a great year! I started thinking about what my goals would be for 2011. Last year was such an intense year, and I become a 10 in 2010 what could I do this year to make it even more amazing? A longer run? become more fit? eat better? Nothing seemed to stick out and the year was coming to end fast. What are my goals going to be? I need to have something to work on, but what would it be? I would lay in bed at night and just think, but each night I would get restless and my mind would drift off into the abyss of sleep. So FINALLY one night sitting on the couch at my BFF, Andrea, house everyone was talking about their BMI's and what a healthy weight would be. In 2010 I lost 53 pounds which is a great accomplishment, plus I ran a 5k, 10k, and a half marathon on top of a million miles of running throughout the week. Last year I didn't really focus on how much I weighted, it was more mental, and if I could run and how far I could push myself. This year, 2011, is going to be focused on are you ready....

#1 become a better me
(focusing on being a better wife, mother, and friend)
#2 getting to a healthier weight and staying in my BMI range
(I started this goal last week. I weighted in at 171 and I want to get to 147. I weighted in yesterday and I'm down to 164 only 17 pounds to go!)
#3 get pregnant again
(I'm ready to try again, and hopefully nothing will go wrong this time)

#4 Attend the Temple

(at least once a month without fail)

#5 Start Preschool Program

(with Lizzie and Krislynn daily)

This is all I have so far, but I know I will add more as the year progresses. I just need to get this written down somewhere so I will NOT forget my goals, and I know the blogging world is always excited to see if I'm living up to what I set out for myself!

2011 here I come!