Zoo

Yesterday we went to the zoo and it was the coldest day I can ever remember. On the way there the interstate sign said they were 55 mile an hour winds. The great thing was there was no one else there. We saw probably five other people total. And most animals were still out. Even though we froze,  it was still a fun family activity.  And the baby Orangatang was really cute.

Thanksgiving at aunt Kathy's

Oliver,  Teddy  and I drove up to aunt Kathy's  for thanksgiving.  It is just an hour and a half drive. It was just a few people. Mike, Diana, Lainey, Lainey fiance Peter, Kathy, Reed, lexy, and Grandma Gladys. I was in an mmbio lab with Peter, that's why he looked so familiar to me.

Grandma Gladys' poem

https://youtu.be/PLeVEsm-UFg

Grandma Gladys ' song

https://youtu.be/erfscTvxW_s

Brothers

Oliver went to a nickel auction with me and so he now has a T-Rex. It is a very good friend of his that he likes to feed. Here they are eating peanuts together.

 

And this is from that time that Teddy spilled the baking soda, but you can't really tell so much in the picture. And it isn't really that bad of a mess. Really it is quite a miracle that he plays in there almost every day and this is the worst mess he has made so far.

Teddy and Oliver are pretty adorable together. Teddy absolutely adores Oliver. He can only say about 5 things, Oliver being one of those things. He refuses to hold still when we change his diaper. He cries and screams and tries his hardest to get away and he is really good at being squirmy. But when Oliver asks him to lie down he holds still for him.

 Don't forget to check out the other new post after this!

Leaves Leaves Leaves

The craziest thing happened the other day. It is something I have never experienced before. The leaves all fell off of the tree, all within a few hours! I thought they always fell over the course of a few days to weeks. But we had a pretty cold day/night a few days ago and the next morning I looked out and the leaves were dropping like it was sprinkling leaves. We left to go do something and when we got back about 3 hours later, all of the leaves were off the tree. And it is a pretty big tree. It was pretty awesome.

Now our entire backyard is like a pile of leaves.  So here are a ton of pictures to show you. The last picture shows their true personalities and how it is every day at our house. Oliver being a şmecher or teasing and Teddy not so sure about it.

Fall festival

We were in charge of throwing a ward/ neighborhood party, so we threw a fall festival with bobbing for apples, donuts on a string, a cake walk, the newlywed game, bingo and dinner. Everything turned out great and we had about 120 people come, so a good turn out too. 
Oliver had a blast being a crazy kid. He got to help me announce the bingo numbers, licked the frosting off of a bunch of cookies and spent a good hour dunking his head in the apple bobbing station. He had a blast and it was really funny to watch. But he sure was cold while we were cleaning up since he was soaking wet.

Drawing Names for Christmas 2015

Mom asked us to draw names for Christmas. So I put Oliver and Teddy to work. They had a lot of fun. It took Teddy a few tries each time to not pull out 4-5 names, but he got it in the end (when there were only one or two names left). Each time Oliver would pull one out he would tell me that it said Kim or Taylee (our neighbor).

Here is the list
Christmas 2015
This persons has--> this person
Mom and Dad ----> Debbie
Carrie-------------->Wendy
Sage----------------> Rob
Kim----------------> Chrissy
Rob----------------> Bonnie
Joe-----------------> Carrie
Bonnie-------------> Joe
Chrissy------------> Kim
Wendy-------------> Dad and Mom
Debbie-------------> Sage

I checked the list and no one has the same person that they had last year or the year before. So hopefully all is good. :)
And we documented it. Of course. Oliver is really excited to have Stephen.

Flannel Boards the Frugal Way

So a few months ago Eric insisted that I make some flannel board stories of different scripture stories to help Oliver learn them better. We had been trying all sorts of ways to teach him, but he is definitely a visual learner, at least at this age. I kind of dragged my feet because it sounded like a lot of work. And when I looked up the different ways how to do it, it also seemed like a lot more money than I wanted to spend.

First I had to find already made scripture stories, because there was no way was I going to make them myself. Yikes, that sounds like a horrible idea. So I got some from this lady, but most of them from this lady who had already colored in the ones provided by The Friend Magazine by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also, I wasn't about to pay money, so I only found free pictures and clip-art. I did do some general stories as well such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Brown Bear, Brown Bear that I found on Pinterest.

On my first round of making flannel figures I followed the instructions found here. I really loved how these turned out. They are soft and seem pretty durable. But the 12-pack of transfer paper from Wal-mart that I had to buy online makes them around a dollar a page. And if you buy a 6-pack then you are more likely to pay $2-3 per page. And if your story has 6 pages, all of the sudden that is an expensive flannel board story. On top of that, you have to have an ink-jet printer. We don't have one and copy stores (at least all of the ones here) will not print onto transfer paper because transfer paper is only made for inkjet printers and laser printers will melt it or something like that. So I had to find a friend who was willing to let me print color. Then I offered her money to pay for the ink and she wouldn't take it and then it's a little awkward because I'm using all of her expensive colored ink. You also need an iron, and I don't have one, so I had to borrow that.

So then the girl who offered to print my pictures onto transfer paper suggested that I try using modge podge. Lightbulb.

Using modge podge for flannel board figures cost around $.33 per page whereas the transfer paper method costs around $1.33 per page, making this method THE CHEAPEST METHOD THERE IS!
(Costs include the price of printing pages at a copy store  of $.29 per page, the price of the felt which is $4 per yard at Wal-mart, and the price of Modge Podge using a 40% off coupon at Michael's or Hobby Lobby)

So this is what I did.

I first found all of the stories that I wanted and had them printed onto regular paper in color.

 You then have to cut out each piece.

After the pieces are cut out, you apply a generous amount of Modge Podge onto the back of the picture and stick it on the felt.

Press down the picture so that it is flat. If there is a part sticking up, add a little more glue. I then would take my sponge brush and go around the edge of the picture so that all the edges were completely stuck to the felt.

Then I would brush on a final layer of glue over the entire thing, taking off any excess glue for a smooth finish.

Then let it dry! Once dry, cut out the pieces and use them!

 

This method is a little bit more time consuming, but since I took my sweet time anyways it was worth it to have it cost less. I've found them to be quite durable and I'm not as antsy about my little boys breaking the pieces. They are a little stiffer that other versions, but they work great.