Tim Tam Slam

A Tim Tam Slam was something my husband learned about from one of his companions while in Australia on his mission.

First you need Tim Tams Australia's favorite cookie.

Then you bite off one corner of the cookie.

Then bite off the opposite corner.

Using your Tim Tam like a straw you suck up the hot cocoa (While in Australia Jeremy used Milo).

As soon as you are able to suck up the hot cocoa and the cookie is all soft and mushy you shove the whole thing in your mouth. That is were the slam part comes in.

The end results are a little messy but fun and delicious. The girls had a blast and were asking for Tim Tam slams for breakfast the next morning and several days after.

Shaylee's Busy Day

Shaylee had a busy day yesterday. It started out like any regular day. She got up, ate breakfast, and played until it was time to take Kelsi to school. When we got home I let her watch a movie while I got a few things done and put Courtney down for her morning nap. When I came back to check on her I noticed she had a reddish-purple mark on her arm. Upon closer inspection and talking to her I discovered that she had given herself a hickey on her arm. Yes Shaylee's first hickey (and hopefully her last) was given to her by herself. I tried to take a picture but couldn't get it to turn out so well.

Then around lunch time I was feeding Courtney and Shaylee runs in with a panicked look on her face telling me to hurry quick because the house was flooding. I run in the bathroom to discover that the toilet was overflowing. So the next little while was spent cleaning up that mess. Sorry no pictures for that one either. I was too busy cleaning up the mess.

You would think that was enough for one day but not for Shaylee. I had let her paint at the table with watercolors hoping to keep her out of trouble. She got bored with the watercolors and went on to the other paints that were in the same box. Not only to she paint beautiful masterpieces on paper she felt the need to paint one on her arm. Thank goodness it was all washable so the clean up wasn't too bad.

Somewhere in the mix I managed to get some laundry done and it is amazing what you find when you do. Just take a look at the pictures.

The day in the life of a four year old whose mom is too busy with the baby sometimes.

Stay tuned Tim Tam Slams coming soon.

I HATE Scorpions

I have several things to blog about but today I choose one. I HATE scorpions. I was stung just yesterday by one of those evil things. I was minding my own business washing my hands in the kitchen. I went to dry my hands on the dish towel hanging over the oven handle when there was a sudden stab of pain shooting through my wrist and hand. Ouch and again I say ouch. Just thinking about it makes my wrist hurt. The horrid thing was hiding on my dish towel between the two ends of the towel. I have been stung twice before but this was probably the most painful one. My hand and forearm tingled with the feeling of pins and needles. Let me just say it again. I HATE SCORPIONS. Here is a list of the reasons why.

1. It hurts when they sting!
2. They can be anywhere and I mean anywhere. We have found them in the sink, the tub, on the floor in all rooms, the wall, up in the closet, on the couch, in the laundry basket mixed in with clothes, on Kelsi's backpack and several other places I am sure I am forgetting.
3. They could be deadly (certain types) for my children especially my baby if she is stung. Shaylee was stung once and didn't have a bad reaction, thank goodness. Kelsi, Courtney and Jeremy haven't yet and it is not a fate I wish for them. I rather be stung several times over than to have my children be stung even once. I am too scared for them.
4. The are ugly.

I hope a scorpion sting is a fate none of you have to face. Kind of ironic my astrological sign is Scorpio.

Stay tuned more posts coming soon.

Shiny cars

Shaylee has a fascination with shiny cars. In particular the color red. Our neighbors have a bright red Corvette and a red Mustang. They are owned by college boys and are at least ten years old. She is often talking about wanting a car like one of those. Well, the other day we were walking to school when she saw someone drive by in a big navy blue truck. It was one that had the over sized tires. After it went by she told me she wanted to buy that truck and sell it so she could buy it again because she liked it so much. It just made me smile. The logic of a four year old.

It Was The Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Our Christmas tree

This holiday season made me think of the line "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Yes we had a lot of fun with Christmas programs, parties and the general excitement that comes with the holidays, but we also had to deal with a case of the stomach flu. Yuck! I had a slight case of it the Tuesday before Christmas. Jeremy got it the day after Christmas and Shaylee the worst of all the day after that. We ended up taking Shaylee to the ER because she couldn't keep even water down and was getting dehydrated. She had to have blood drawn and an IV to pump her up with fluids. I can now say that we are grateful to be on this end of it and continue to hope that no one else gets it.

All dressed up for Church

Enough of the worst part of the holiday here are a few highlights of our best part of Christmas. Around about the middle of the month I took the girls to the school for family reading night to hear a Christmas story, sing songs, have cookies and cocoa, and of course sit on Santa's lap. We also enjoyed Kelsi's School Christmas program. All the first graders sang "Hip Hop Reindeer," "Jolly Old St. Nicolas," "Jingle Bells" and a few others. The "Hip Hop Reindeer" song was cute they had some of the students dressed like reindeer dancing hip hop moves. Kelsi was also suppose to ring a bell for the song "Silver Bells" with several other children but didn't make it on stage. When I asked her later what happened she said to went the wrong way back stage and missed it. The poor teachers had to keep track of over 400 students on stage in the Fine Arts Center at the College. They had to rotate them around, each grade level getting there turn on stage. It turned out to be a really great program. I guess technically you can't call it a Christmas program because the also included at least one Hanuka song.

Family Reading night on Santa' s lap.

Cookies

Cocoa

Shaylee's preschool program was held at the Methodist Church in Safford. It was also a very cute program as always. Here teacher does a great job with the kids. The couple of weeks before the program where spent helping Shaylee learn her part which was "P is for Presents the wise men lay before Him." She said her part perfect. Loud and clear so everyone could hear her. She also spent several of the days before had singing bits of the songs she was learning for the program. One line she kept singing was "reindeer, reindeer shake your fluffy tail." The "shake your fluffy tail" was always done with her shaking her own tail end. It makes me smile just to think of it. There were also a couple of times she yelled "mom, clap." I guess I wasn't doing it right or soon enough.

The Shirt that was made with the white shirt talked about in the last post.

Picture of all three preschool classes in program.

It is fun to see my kids learn and grow and be involved in school programs. They are growing too fast.

We also saw Santa at the ward party at which he told about the birth of the Savior and the importance of remembering the real meaning of the season. This time Courtney sat on Santa's lap. It didn't go so well. She looked up at him, then looked out and that was the end of it. She cried and cried until I got her.

Christmas Eve we made a trip to Pomerene to see my family. We had a Mexican fiesta at my grandma Barney's home for lunch which was followed by the traditional presentation of the nativity by the children and a visit from Santa. Kelsi was so excited she got to be Mary this year. This is a privilege that is reserved for the big girls. She wasn't the oldest girl there but she was the oldest that hadn't got to be Mary before. She did a great job. Shaylee got to be an angel. She also did a great job. Courtney got to be a spectator. Actually I think she was asleep for most of it. This brings back great memories. Growing up Christmas eve was always spend at Grandma Barneys in this way. This was the first year without Grandpa. I am extremely glad that we got to be there to show our love and support to Grandma. She is doing great in spite of a crazy year for her.

Kelsi as Mary with her cousin Payton as Joesph.

Sheppards come to see baby Jesus.

The entire cast.

Kelsi on Santa's lap Christmas Eve at Grandma Barney's home.Shaylee and Santa

Courtney and Santa (She's not to sure about the bid guy in red.)

That evening we were home for our own little Christmas traditions. We opened the traditional Christmas Eve present of pajamas and Jeremy read the nativity from Luke 2. We also followed the star. It is a tradition we started two years ago. We turn off all of the lights except for the tree and take the big star off of the Christmas tree. Jeremy takes the star and holds it up high and shines a flash light on it. We wonder through the house following the star that leads us back to the tree under which the baby Jesus is lying. It is something that we really enjoy and the girls each want to take a turn holding the star and leading the way. It helps remind us to come to Jesus.

Kelsi and Shaylee's pajamas. They came with a matching robe. They were High School Musical for Kelsi and Hannah Montana for Shaylee.

Here is Courtney in her pajamas.

We hope your Holiday's went well and we wish you the best for the New Year!