Take Me Out To The Ball Game

For our preschool theme this week we checked out books about sports, counted balls, played soccer outside, and today we are at a baseball game. City league, not a big huge deal, but still fun! We're enjoyng the fresh spring air and the cool evening breeze. We missed our cooking day, but we had a BBQ on Saturday last week, and then again on Sunday, so we're kind of BBQ'd out. We may make some cracker jacks tomorrow, and we're learning the baseball game song at the game. So far I'm pretty impressed with how our first week of themed preschool has gone! I'm looking forward to next week.


What topic should we focus on next week? Music? Weather? Seasons? Writing? Something else?

-- Post on the go

One Year Older

Joseline turned 1 on March 23! She’s growing up so fast. Still not walking, but she’s my little sweetheart. She is so precious and snuggly and such a good eater (she ate that whole mini cake above. Probably in under 5 minutes)!

Grandma Shirley bought Joseline a pretty green Easter dress for her birthday (turns out I have two Easter babies!)

After church (and before the cake madness) we did a photo shoot of Joss in her pretty new dress.

 

We tried to get a few pictures of Joseline with her cousin, Annie, but I don’t think we ever got them to both look at the camera at the same time. I tried to get Joseline to walk – as you can see, she does a great job holding on with one hand.

She didn’t really like the feel of the grass on her feet, and kept trying to inch toward the sidewalk.

I am in love with this little girl. I’ve been listening to the General Young Women’s broadcast on my iPhone, and I just can’t help feeling so blessed to have this beautiful baby in my life – who will one day be a beautiful young woman! I feel very privileged to be the mother who will get to sit with her at the General YW meetings. To be the mother who gets to teach her to pray and to love Heavenly Father. I am in such awe of this beautiful little girl. I just want to be the best mother for her and Vincente. They are a precious responsibility that Heavenly Father has placed in my hands. I can’t do it without Heavenly Father, I know that for sure. Good thing He’s with me in this child-raising thing.

     

How does being a mother make you feel? Do you counsel with Heavenly Father every day, pleading with Him to help you be a better mother? Do you feel His strength with you as you strive to be a better mother?

Where Did All These Pictures Come From?

So I was about to sit down and write a little post about Joseline – because she’s a sweetheart, and I haven’t dedicated a post to her in a while.

Then I realized that it’s been a while since I got the pictures off my camera’s SD card.

Now I am downloading 214 pictures.

Whew.

Well, once I sort through them, I’ll be able to post some of the good ones.

And we’re going to buy Photoshop. Hooray! Elements AND Premier, so we can do home videos, too!! Yay!

Until then, you’ll just get the regular old what I’ve got from my camera pictures :)

I Know About Sports!

Day one of Themed Preschool has gone GREAT! We checked out a bunch of books at the library – I Know About Sports, Michael’s Golden Rules, Casey at the Bat, J is for Jump Shot, This is Baseball, T is for Touchdown, Just My Friend and Me, and Mia Hamm: Winners Never Quit!

So far we’ve only read 1 1/2 of them, but we did go to story time at the library, and it’s been GREAT weather, so we’ve been outside a lot.

Unfortunately, the weather is supposed to get cold and rainy and windy starting Wednesday morning. Yuck. So we’re moving our sports outing to tomorrow. We’re going to go to Uncle Brady’s soccer game! It’ll be a fun time, and Vince will bring his soccer ball and get to play during half time. Or between periods. Or whatever they have in soccer (can you tell this week is for me as much as it is for Vince!)

I’m excited for our weekly themes!

What did you do with your preschooler today? Do you have any sports knowledge for me to share with my preschooler tomorrow?

My Wonderful, Fabulous, Amazing, Very-Good Day!

Today I woke up at 5am.

Did some stretches (i.e. Yoga… it felt great) (did I tell you that my quads feel as if they have been mauled? More about that later… ),  studied the scriptures, blogged a bit, went for a three mile run, did some laundry, took the kids to story time, checked out books from the library, ate lunch, played with the kids outside, went to the chiropractor (really needed that!), ate Coldstone ice cream with my sweetheart (the best part was being with my sweetheart), did some more laundry, made dinner, had FHE with the babies, tutored for an hour, and now… I am going to get in my jammies and snuggle with my sweetie again while we watch a movie.

What a great day!

What did you do today?

Preschool Week 1 - SPORTS

In honor of Spring baseball starting, and the fact that the entire household seems to go outside in the now warm evenings to play catch, I decided that this week should be sports week.

Today – we will go to the library and check out books about sports. These books will be our main source of reading material this week, and it will be my goal to read to Vincente each day. He loves to be read to, and I should really do better about that. Eventually I want to start reading chapter books (the classics – Alice in Wonderland, etc) to him and Joseline, even if they don’t quite understand it yet.

Tuesday – plays sports outside. Hopefully we’ll be able to organize a little soccer game or some kickball or something relatively easy for a little guy like Vince. Luckily his little cousin, Samuel, is here (Sam is about 6 mos older than Vince). Sam also loves to play outside, and his mom is here, so maybe we’ll have some willing opponents ;)

Wednesday - “academics” This day, I’ll print off some “color by number” sheets, counting sheets, etc, and we’ll practice the “sit still at the table and follow directions” activity. Ha ha. We’ll see how that goes! I will not give up! We’ll also gather up balls and count them, and maybe start experiencing “number conservation” (there are the same number of basketballs as there are baseballs, even though baseballs are smaller). We’ll also practice our letters – probably the letter B, since most sports involve a ball.

Thursday – attend a sporting event. This will most likely mean a baseball game. Possibly a soccer game. And we may switch this around to another day, because it mostly depends on when Vince’s uncles have games. (but I’m pretty much sure there is a game every night this week, so we shouldn’t have a problem).

Friday – COOKING DAY! We’ll make home made cracker jacks, and maybe have hot dogs for lunch. And learn the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and maybe some other sports-themed songs.

What are you doing this week with your preschooler? How are you helping your preschooler learn and grow at home? What ideas do you have for a theme for another week?

Sincere Desires

I posted today over in my scripture blog about refinement. Russ and I read an article last summer in the Ensign called "Our Refined Heavenly Home". It was a great article, and at the time reminded me of a lot of things. Then it was of course put in the recycle bin, and the article was forgotten. But not entirely.

Today, or maybe this was last night, as I was studying the words of the Prophet and other Church leaders, I was reminded of a few Ensign articles I had read that had a profound influence on me. This one about refinement was one. This article about a great mother was another that had a deep impact on me.

So I printed both articles to a PDF on my desktop so I can read them regularly. It’s not often that I feel so deeply affected by an Ensign article or a talk. Sure, many talks and articles have stirred my soul and increased my testimony, but occasionally there is a talk or article that feels like the author was sitting down with you in private conversation, answering your very concerns and questions – giving voice to the sincere desires of your heart.

Well, there is a lot in both articles – too much for one imperfect person like me to become in less than a lifetime, but I want to work on the things in each article.

This week I am going to work on being more refined in my speech. I want to speak with “purity of thought and sincerity of expression.”

I don’t want to be only refined in my choice of words and in my language, but also in what I talk about.

“Refinement in speech is reflected not only in our choice of words but also in the things we talk about. There are those who always speak of themselves; they are either insecure or proud. There are those who always speak of others; they are usually boring. There are those who speak of stirring ideas, compelling books, and inspiring doctrine; these are the few who make their mark in this world.”

So there it is. My goal for the week. My soul’s sincere desire. I have faith that as I come to Him in sincere prayer, Heavenly Father will bless me with the ability to become more than I am.

How do you want to be more than you are? Are there any General Conference talks or Ensign articles that seemed like the speaker/author had sat down in private conversation with you?

Defining Moments

I am currently trying to have a better defined theme of this blog. I have a gazillion other blogs (which have seriously suffered due to the move) that have really well defined themes – gardening, healthy living, scripture study, and a sort-of personal finance blog.

I originally started this blog to post my general thoughts about, well, everything. Then I started using it to post pictures of the kids so that family (mostly grandmas and grandpas, and aunts and uncles) could keep up with what the kids were doing, and how they were growing. But I kept posting my random rambling thoughts.

So, to make the blog a little more coherent, I am going to start a blogging schedule, and I am going to add some widgets or whatever they are to illustrate the growth and development of our kiddos.

Sunday – my day. On Sundays I will blog about my thoughts, feelings, and general goings on in my life. I will try to keep these thoughts related to personal things in my life – my family, friends, etc.

Monday morning – I will post our preschool theme and schedule for the week. We will learn about our theme through playing, cooking, reading, going on outings, and coloring. Since it’s already Thursday, we’ll start next week with SPORTS (since all Vince’s uncles play sports, and spring sports are in full swing!)

Two days mid-week – Joseline and Vincente days. I will try to give each kid their own post each week, with an update – pictures, milestones, etc along with any fun things they have said/done.

I will add some things on the side of the blog that will help you keep up with what we are doing each day.

I also want to make goals related to my other blogs, so here goes:

The Present – post three times/week (min) – an update on me, an update on Vince, and an update on Joseline

How Does your Garden Grow – post at least once a month on a gardening topic (in May I will start posting progress on some plant that I decide to buy – and I  will have Vince plant a seed and take care of it this summer)

A Word of Wisdom – have a theme for each month and post once a month about a health/green living related issue. Have guest posts once a month from different friends who are also into the whole nutrition/green living thing

So that is a total of 3 posts a week for our family blog, and 1 post a month for the garden and healthy living blogs. I think I can handle that.

I will be consistent for 6 weeks in a row, starting the week of April 19, and ending the week of May 24. If I am consistent, then I will reward myself by buying myself this book. Hopefully that will get me into a habit, and I will continue being consistent.

Tutor.com

We are back "home" in UT and loving our time with Russ!

In other news, Russ and I have made a decision that I will just stay at home with the kids this fall. It will be a time of a lot of transition for the kids and we feel it would be best if I am home with the kids, so they have at least something stable.

We're keeping the MIIS option open, but in the meantime, Russ is going to try to prepare himself for a job in information security. We have some connections, so that will help. And my uncle has taken it upon himself to be Russ' mentor in his career path, which is great, because my uncle has experience in that field.

I have been hired as an online tutor for tutor.com, which is fabulous news for me! I just need to brush up on my calculus skills, and then I will be making me some snowflakes! It feels good to be a financial contributor for the family.

On that note, general conference was fabulous, although we only got to watch Sun. I've been listening to the talks from Sat AM, and I am always bouyed up by the world of our leaders. I have a lot to think about, and I will probably post on my scripture study blog soon. Things are mellowing our here, which is a nice change to the last several years of our lives.


-- Post From My iPhone

Post Grad

On Thursday, Russ graduated with honors from the Presidio of Monterey Defense Language Institute. He received a certificate in Chinese and may transfer some credits to get an associates of arts in Chinese language and area studies.

I went to the graduation ceremony with Dan's wife and family. I am so proud of Russ! Graduating in Chinese from DLI, especially with honors, is definitely an awesome achievement.

We are headed back to UT for a month until Russ goes to AZ for even more military training.

We are so proud of our soldier-Papai!

Congratulations!!

-- Post From My iPhone