Kids Bowl Free

My dear friend told me about this great summer program going on here where kids get to bowl free. So I signed the boys up and we gave it try. This was their first attempt at bowling and it was a lot of fun to see them get excited over their job well done!

I was a little nervous that Emerson wouldn’t be able to even pick up the ball but he was insistent on doing it by himself. I was impressed by his strength.

      

Aren’t they the cutest bowlers ever!

Not a bad way to spend a Friday afternoon. We have a few more things to cross off our summer bucket list and we will be ready to welcome the coming of fall with open arms!

(just a side note I did have to pay a few dollars for D’s shoes but $3 for two hours of fun was well worth it in my book!)

New Splash Park

Today we went to the new splash park in town. As I sat back and watched these two play I couldn’t help but smile. They are just starting to get to that age where they enjoy playing together. It was so sweet to see them hand in hand and laughing.

They probably went down this slide about 30 times together.

 

  

Emerson is saying, “Come on Bruder!”

 

He was such a ham today, stopping and posing anytime he saw the camera in my hand.

Thank you splash park for a fun day in the sun! I am sure we will be back many more times to soak up what little summer we have left!!!

Donaven starts Pre-K in 3weeks!

Sleep

 

Sometimes I wonder how I ever manage to get any sleep around here!

An unplanned teaching moment

A few days ago as we were sitting down for lunch & Donaven out of the blue told me that his body is a temple and that someday he wanted to live in Heaven and be with Jesus again. He continued that in order to do that he was going to take real good care of his body by only eating good healthy thing like milk and throwing yucky bad thing like tea in the trash. I was a little taken aback. Here my four year old was sharing his testimony of the word of wisdom something that I have yet to teach him.  I was really impressed with his level of understanding and the fact that something he had learned in primary several days prior had made such an impact on him. He quickly explained his displeasure at not getting a turn in primary to throw the bad stuff in the trash and it opened a window of opportunity for an unplanned teaching moment. I pulled out a very similar activity and gave him a chance to sort out the good things from the bad while discussing it together. It was a very spirit filled moment. One that I wish I could hold on to and remember always. Later when thinking back on the events of the day these words came to my mind from the the talk, Teaching our Children to Understand given in the past April General Conference;

"Sometimes the most powerful way to teach our children to understand a doctrine is to teach in the context of what they are experiencing right at that moment. These moments are spontaneous and unplanned and happen in the normal flow of family life. They come and go quickly, so we need to be alert and recognize a teaching moment when our children come to us with a question or worry, when they have problems getting along with siblings or friends, when they need to control their anger, when they make a mistake, or when they need to make a decision. (See Teaching, No Greater Call: A Resource Guide for Gospel Teaching [1999], 140–41; Marriage and Family Relations Instructor’s Manual [2000], 61.)

If we are ready and will let the Spirit guide in these situations, our children will be taught with greater effect and understanding."

I know I need to slow down a bit and be more susceptible to these fleeting moments and take advantage of the time that I have been given. Just a thought...

Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C…

and Emerson starts with E!

Please take a look at my 2nd birthday party!!!

These are the invites we sent out to a few of Emerson’s buddies to come help us celebrate his special day.

     front                                             back

The decorations were kept simple with bright pinwheels and paper lanterns.

 

As the guests arrived the kiddos decorated a cookie for pin the cookie on the cookie monster.

 

  

For refreshments cookies and milk were served.

After being good and sugared up we played two party games;

Guess how many cookies are in the cookie jar…

(546…Emerson guessed 1)

and Pin the cookie on the cookie monster.

                                                                           

Emerson then opened his presents.

Finishing off the festivities we sang Happy Birthday and let him go at his Cookie Monster Mega cupcake.

      

It is pretty tiring being the center off attention but he handled it really well!

Emerson is a pretty happy kid and it gave us great pleasure to see him enjoy himself with a few of his favorite people!