"Peace in Christ" - New Beginnings 2018

This year, we let the girls plan EVERYTHING for New Beginnings. I've realized i've been an idiot for the past 2 1/2 years, because this was the easiest, most least-stressful event I've ever done. Each girl was put into a committee (refreshments, invitations/programs, and decorations) and given a job to do and follow up on. I gave the girls the option of using New Beginnings as their Integrity value project if they spent the 10 + hours working on it. A big part of Integrity is keeping and following through with commitments, so it worked....somewhat. We still had girls drop the ball, or not show up, but that was to be expected, and we had other girls step up and it still worked great.

Here is the invitation two of the girls made. Cute, right? I had to laugh at the thumb in the bottom corner...they ended up cutting a puzzle piece out of that corner, so the thumb was cut out haha. They did a good job!

They decided to base the program on this years mutual theme: "Peace in Christ." They decided to do a play on the word peace, and do a puzzle piece theme. My favorite part of the night was the value presentation. We designed and ordered a giant poster of Christ from Office Max (it was kinda pricey - $20 - but...it is beautiful, and we got SO many compliments on it, it was well worth the money) glued it to some cardboard and made a giant puzzle out of it. We cut 8 pieces, to represent the 8 values, and had each girl represent a value by wearing the color, saying the scripture and motto that goes with the value, and sharing how that particular value helps them to have peace in Christ. Then, they placed a  piece of the puzzle onto the chalkboard. Here is the poster pre-puzzle:

Here is the puzzle after they presented. It is seriously so pretty and I want one in my house haha. Each puzzle piece had strips of magnet placed on the back. I made the puzzle layout with the different value colors on the bottom, so it would be easy for the girls to know where their piece went, but my magnets weren't strong enough for the puzzle pieces to be placed on top (angry face) of the layout. Oh well. It still looked good as a decoration below the picture.

 We sang "Peace In Christ" from the LDS youth cd (All the songs and sheet music are free for download on the website here) and the girls made and cut out puzzle piece brownies for refreshments. They were so cute! (My cute counselor found this cute cookie cutter on Amazon)

I also ordered these puzzle piece necklaces from Wish, but the shipping was delayed and they didn't get here in time - bummer! I'll use the necklaces at camp this year, and instead, ended up getting roses from Costco instead. The girls LOVED getting the roses. I might actually give those out again in the future...they were THAT excited.

Aren't they cute?!

January Happenings

Its so nice when things start to slow down again. . .

Rylee cut her first tooth last week! She was so angry and sick the week before, we're all thankful that little tooth popped out when it did. She is back to her happy, smiley, SLEEPING self! 

We're getting ready to celebrate Daddy's birthday this weekend. The big 3 0 ! Man, we're old. The kids have already spoiled two presents, so we'll see if they manage to give-away the rest ha ha.

We saw The Greatest Showman....if you haven't seen it yet, GO! It is amazing! And not just because Hugh Jackman is in it. . . well, maybe a little. It has such a great message, and the music is PHENOMENAL. We have literally not stopped listening/singing/dancing to it for the past few weeks. I will say for the more sensitive viewers, the only thing that might make you uncomfortable is a very busty bearded lady....but my dad really liked the movie, so if he made it, then anyone should be able to get through it! Ha!

The Jordan River Temple will be rededicated this May, and our youth are participating in a Youth Temple Celebration. 66 stakes and 17,000 youth. It is going to be so fun. All my mutual activities from March-May will be centered around the celebration. Talk about lucky! Can't wait to share more details.

We are getting Boston registered for Kindergarten. Where did the time go?! Super excited to have him at my mom's elementary school this year. It makes things a little easier. And, he gets to go with his cousin James....so, Grandma right down the hall, with a friend already in his class?? Doesn't get much better than that!

A few weeks ago, Boston walked in on Ellie playing with some makeup. First thing out of his mouth: "Ellie, your eyes look disgusting." I thought she would get mad, but she looked in the mirror, laughed and said, "Wowee, I look ba-sgusting!!" hahaha she is so nuts. Boston then started to show her how its really done. Because, he's the expert on everything...

We finally got snow yesterday! A whopping 12 inches after some oddly warm weather. Like, upper 50's. The kids were so excited, and we spent the morning having snowball fights and sliding down our deck stairs.

Ellie decided to cut her hair while I was at a church meeting this morning. A big ole chunk right where her little cowlick is in the front. Oh boy. Boston also cut his hair, telling us that Ellie told him to do it. I found myself using the phrase I used to hate hearing as a kid..."If Ellie told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" Turning into my mom one phrase at a time.
Honestly, in all seriousness, its not a bad thing!

Rylee 7 Months

That last month flew by. Rylee gets fatter and fatter with each passing month. I don't even recognize her old pictures anymore, she looks so different! Rylee is going through on ornery phase lately. Wants to crawl, but can't. Wants to play with the kids but can't. I still think she's teething, but nothing yet. She chews on just about everything she can get her hands on. We're having a hard time putting her to bed at night, because she doesn't want to sleep anymore. (I really think its those darn teeth, but I said that months ago...)
Rylee can sit up on her own now, is eating cereal and some fruits/veggies. She likes her baths, and loves her siblings (for now) and lights up whenever they come into a room. Boston plays extreme peek-a-boo with her. It usually consists of him running as fast as he can, jumping around, and yelling boo so loud it scares her half to death. He thinks her scared face is hilarious, and they both end up laughing really hard. One day it won't be so funny to her, buddy boy. Boston also likes to turn her bows around on her head so she looks like Joseph from the nativity, or move it so the bow is directly on top of her head so he can sing happy birthday to her. (He thinks it looks like a party hat i guess) He will laugh and laugh. We all wonder if there is something seriously wrong with him.
Love my squishy girl so much.