She's been JAMMED!

I'm not sure how I should start this post, one way is......
My name is Amy and I am a Turbo Jam addict.
The other way is.....
Poor Sarah! Sarah (Jacob's cousin) has been substitute teaching in Boise and decided to visit us for Spring Break. Luckily I volunteered to become her personal trainer and get her fit for the week while she's here. Actually the truth is I like to work out, but love to work out with someone else, sometimes a little too much. It's always funner to have a workout buddy. Dang endorphins, they'll get you every time.

So on Monday I started her on Turbo Jam. 3 workouts (1 1/2 hrs) consisting of 2 cardio and an ab workout.. Tuesday followed the same way with 3 more (1 hr 50 mins.) Wednesday I took it easy on her and it was only 2 workouts because I had commitments Wednesday night.
We are both sore. Our abs and core scream when finished......but yet it feels so good!
(Kirsten's interpretation of when we are finished.)

the new "no chew" policy

Jacob has always had a rule of no gum. Mostly because he wants the kids to have good teeth and he doesn't like the chewing. I've always sneaked it to the girls here and there but now I have a different opinion....
A little over a week ago, I took the girls in for a trim. Kirsten was the one that needed it most but wanted it the least. We all also know that she is my most opinionated loud spoken child. So I left it to the resort and tried to bribe her. She told me for a pack of gum she would let it be cut. Deal!

So an inch was trimmed off and a couple layers put in. With her hair being so thick the layers made it easier to style (and cuter!) We didn't have to have it in a ponytail everyday. Then last Friday I noticed a chunk of hair in the garbage. A chunk of hair with gum in. After Kirsten came home I asked her where she had cut her hair. It seems that she decided to put an extra layer in the side. Thank goodness she has thick hair to cover up the "new blunt cut".

....I have a rule of no gum.

His nightly ritual

Homework, sugar (just a FEW snacks), and soda. The only thing missing is his second dinner. He's set to go til at least 2 a.m.

what color is your tooth fairy?

After loosing a tooth, our kids put in in a glass of water at bedtime. They are so excited to see what color the tooth fairy is. Sometimes I swear they are more excited than Santa at Christmas time. It's been every color from pink to green to purple. On Kirsten's last tooth, it looks like she collected some real fairy dust. She was just a little too excited and woke us up at 6 am in the morning to spread the news.

"it was like pulling teeth!"

Kirsten came to me almost 3 weeks ago with floss and asked me to pull out her loose tooth. While brushing, her older sister had told her that her tooth was so loose that she was going to fall asleep, it would fall out, and she would choke on it. Kirsten believed her.
So we tied the floss and made sure it was snug and tight.
Then she decided that she wanted to pull it herself. This was okay except for the fact that she never pulled "hard" enough.
Then Jacob had a "brilliant" idea. We tied the floss to a five pound weight and Kirsten was to drop the weight when she was ready.
After a couple minutes of holding the weight, she couldn't drop it. She set it down on the ground and went to stand up. This yanked the tooth even looser. She was near tears at this point and wanted the floss off. The problem was, the floss had slipped up around the root and the knot was hidden. Half of the tooth was clear and free with just a little root keeping it in on the other side. So Jacob cut the floss and told her to go get in bed. Now the tears came as she said she didn't want to choke on the floss too. After a careful procedure, I got the floss off with tweezers and she was left with two teeth that stuck out worse than beaver teeth. It lasted 2 weeks that way until she finally trusted me to pull one of them out. So last Tuesday night, on the count of 3 (I pulled on 2) all was said and done. The tooth was out, no tears, and a happy girl that was counting on the tooth fairy. When Kirsten came home the next day, she told me that if I hung up her coat I could pull the other one out too. The tooth came out just as easy as it was to hang up her coat.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

GO GREEN!!!!
(in more ways than one)

Invention Convention

There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.
McKay built a binary counter for her invention convention in GATE this year. Surprisingly when Jacob started to explain counting in binary, she picked it up and could finish how the numbers went. I didn't pick it up so well.

To tide you over....

I volunteered to help a friend make cookies for a couple's party tonight. Jacob had brought a recipe home for me to make and so I decided why not? I found out that it's an easy recipe, quick, with very little clean up. My kind of cookies. Even better, Jacob was right, they are delicious! So while I'm still needing to download pictures and complete my header (I'm so excited on my new feet creation) here is a recipe to pass the time.

ORANGE POPPY SEED COOKIES

1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons of orange zest
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 pinches of salt
2 Tablespoons of poppy seeds.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Makes 36 cookies.
(Allow for the cookies to "spread") I put 12 normal size cookie balls on the sheet and it was perfect.

ENJOY!

Stayed tuned....

I think I'm finally waking up and coming out of hibernation. My two month sleep must come to an end.

This weekend, on top of playing volleyball, writing a talk for sacrament, preparing a lesson, finishing entering in data for Quick Books so we can file our taxes, I'm updating our blog (and yes, the header too!) Let's just hope for a little warmth and sunshine minus the wind!