This winter has got us going WOW! It's been a pretty mild winter, especially after a few seasons in Scobey. We had a dry December, a wet but warm January (can you say 60 degrees!?) with snow here and there, and then a pretty cold February (but 7 degrees below is much warmer than the -37 below we experienced last winter). There were several days it didn't get above 0 degrees and we got about 2 feet of snow in one week! We had awesome neighbors help come dig us out and we did lots of shoveling. We were also able to enjoy it a lot and play at home, at the park, and on the McCally's hill sledding. March definitely came in like a lion as well, with lots of negative temps and more snow. But overall, it's been a wonderful winter.
We started our new "Come, Follow Me" program through the church to emphasize Gospel based home learning. It has been a huge blessing for us! For the kick off lesson, we talked about putting our testimonies on "good ground". I made cut out shapes of a church I put on top of a picture of our family out by our house. We took off those pictures and found our home underneath and discussed how it's the real place of worship. Each Sunday, we take turns teaching a lesson introducing the next weeks theme and whomever teaches the lesson gets to put a sticker or a tree or plant or flower on the ground outside our house. We talked about how faith is like a little seed. Grandma Di also did a FHE lesson over video chat with us and talked about growing our faith and she sent the kids some seeds so we are excited to plant those too. We also made little sketch books for the kids to draw or write about what they're learning about each week. Our Gospel study time and scripture study isn't perfect, that's for sure, but our family is being greatly blessed because of this new inspired program! We love it!
We have been celebrating different random holidays to keep the wow factor in this winter. We celebrated Chinese New Year with General Tso chicken, we painted some pig segment art pictures, played pig tag with our piggy nose, and made Chinese almond cookies, but two almonds on each to look like a snout. As always, ice cream for breakfast is always a hit with these kids. We also had pizza day and made homemade pizza and dessert pizza, too. We also did a pizza designing contest and played pin the pepperoni on the pizza. Sometimes we didn't get to celebrate these events because it took way to long for the kids to get their chores done. I feel like a nag some days and just need to figure out a better way to teach them to hurry and get their responsibilities done and then they can play all the rest of the day! Sigh. We also had a Lego day one Monday when they didn't have school. That was pretty fun. We had our Dr. Suess day. We had a breakfast of Green eggs and Ham, Horton hash, Suess juice, and and Blippo seed muffins. We watched some of the old school classic videos on YouTube and read some new for us Dr. Suess books, including the Blippo Seed. I love how our kids have discussions about books now and ask themselves questions about the books like I always do to them. "What is the theme of this book?" "Is there a moral to this story?" Our biggest take aways from the books we read were to be content with what we have and realize life is not meant to be easy. I love these lessons Dr. Suess teaches, I do! I like them, Sam I am! We also made shrinky dinks (the next day because no one wanted to do their Saturday chores) , some of Dr. Suess' characters and some of random things. Most turned out but a few just curled, I think we used the wrong kind of plastic for those ones. But we still had fun from here to there and from there to here.Presidents Day was a trip at Scheels to see the fake presidents there.
Emma's been having lots of fun. She draws a lot, and her drawings just get better and better. I love seeing what she comes up with. Here are a few of my recent favorites. Em's been doing lots of great things with Young Womens and really loves it. She had her Young Women in Excellence Night and was awarded her first set of YW ribbons. She should be on track to get her YW medallion. She's been enjoying temple trips and they made blankets for women with cancer which she loved doing. She's been very sweet most days but some days have been a pre-teen drama party. Don't know if I'm ready for that yet. Emma's been enjoying school still. She loves exploratory most. Her math teacher asked her to go to a math competition but it got cancelled because of the weather. So next year! She also has been quite the baker lately. She made a chocolate cake for us for National Chocolate Cake Day and she made this cookie dough dip for her Young Women group. She found a similar recipe but adapted it. Everyone loved it and keeps asking for the recipe.
Emma’s Cookie Dough Dip
¾ c. brown sugar
½ c. butter
½ c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. salt
1 ¼ c. flour
½ c. oats
3 Tbsp. milk
Chocolate chips,
M&Ms, Reece’s Pieces, etc.
In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, butter (softened)
and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.
Beat in vanilla and salt.
Add in
flour and oats and beat until crumbly dough forms.
Mix in milk.
Add any candies you want and fold into the dough.
Serve as a dip with apples, graham crackers,
pretzels, vanilla wafers or eat as edible cookie dough by the spoon!
😊 Enjoy!
Cal has been staying busy with school, Scouts, piano, friends and gymnastics. He recently had his Blue and Gold banquet and he and Daddy made a strawberry cake with glaze for the cake contest they do. He also did a cool silhouette and other art projects lately. He loves gaming and is quite obsessed with any games on the computer or Switch or phones. He's been into his Rubix cubes and can solve the 2x2 in no time and is working on the 3x3. He loves getting outdoors when it's warm enough. He had a blast with friends outdoors and his siblings and even me too.
Lucy's been liking school (most days), wishes she could go to the dentist every day as she loves going and was counting down this winter when we went. She recently started Activity Days and is loving that so much! I got to go to the "Beloved Mother's Night" they planned (she came up with the name) and they did pedicures, made smoothies and shared a message with us. It was so sweet. Life's hard for Lucy some days and sometimes things get dramatic. She loves dressing up her stuffed animals and dolls with doll clothes and doing their hair crafting on these days we can't go outside and when we do, she loves building things and eating the snow. She's also been the fort making queen lately. Funny story, Dave and I went on a date and came back with Starbucks hot chocolate but the kids were already asleep. The next day, Cov and Lucy found it in the fridge and were shocked to see mom and Dad got "coffee", so they just had to try it, and they took a picture documenting it. Luckily, it was just cocoa!
Cov's been loving playing the Switch, football in the basement indoors, dressing up, building with blocks and Legos, making us laugh, and he especially liked making the borax crystals we did one day. He also got to celebrate his half birthday at school, which he thought was cool. We made cupcake cones for his class. He was pretty excited! He's been really enjoying school and his teacher can't say enough great things about him. She sends lots of pictures of what they do at school, which is fun. He's got a great imaginations and likes cuddling in this cool weather.
Sydnie's been keeping busy and keeping me busy. She makes messes faster than I can clean them up these days. But luckily she's cute so she gets away with it. She loves getting in her Johnny Jumper, doing bubbles all day and wants to sing "Baby Do Do" (Baby Shark) constantly. She's always getting into mommy's makeup. She still loves her Johnny jumper. She's really talking now and that's been fun! She loves Jazzy and her siblings. One day, Cal said "I just love this baby!" I think we all feel that way. She's a stinker but so much fun!
It's been fun being so close to Billings and it seems we end up there quite a bit on weekends. Once, it was for the music exploration day at the library. The kids got to try many different types of instruments there. Then we went to the Symphony to see them perform. We were able to try out some new restaurants, including the Burger Dive which everyone loved! We have been able to go to the temple there. Once, I got to take Emma and Charles from our branch, for his first time to do baptisms for the dead. It was wonderful to be with the youth from our branch and the Laurel ward we meet with for youth activities! We also went one Saturday to see the Black Panther for free at the theater to celebrate Black History month. Of course, we have lots of errands and shopping to do when we are in Billings always.
We had a great surprise when the Cole's came to visit. It was awesome to see them again. Ivy surprised Emma and it was so fun. We had dentist appointments, so as we picked Emma up from school and she got in the car, Ivy popped up from the back seat and said "So, how far is it to the dentist?" Emma yelled out excitedly "Ivy!" And then they went and hugged. It was so sweet! They had a great time catching up and hanging out like the old days. I let Emma stay home Friday for a "sick" day (Ivy told me when we were planning and I told her that occasions like this call for it that "Moms are secretly awesome!" Haha! The girls did crafts, sang songs, made friendship bracelets, dressed like twins, we went shopping at Old Navy and the mall and out to lunch and they got their first manicures, movies, snacks, drawing, talking, and more. Saturday, we went to a snowman building contest in our town. The kids got some great ideas and we raided the dress up box. Emma made an island snow woman, Cal made a Bat SnowMan, Ivy made a Snowda Yoda, Lucy did Bob the Clown, Cov made a lucky leprechaun snowman. It was a great time and Ivy came out in 1st place with a $30 gift card! They all did a great job and had a blast. Then we went sledding for the afternoon. Finally, we drove to Billings (got Taco Bell on the way and now have a butt-ritto inside joke), met up with Jess and Holly at the state basketball championship. Max was playing in the band. We saw lots of other friends and it was fun to see familiar face sand visit with old friends. Though we were only in Scobey for two years, the place will always hold a special place in our hearts for us. Scobey won third in the tournament! It was a good game! We got some Sonic slushies on our way home and most snoozed on the way back. Sunday, they all came to church with us and then we had lunch before they left back to Scobey. The kids put pillows in their tummies and did belly gongs and sang the fat song. It was a great weekend, especially for Emma and Ivy, these cute BFFs.
This winter has been making us all say wow - from the weather and things we've been able to do! We know we're far from over with the snow, though the calendar says spring now and it getskind of old. I guess we have to remind ourselves it is good for the land. We are thankful for the Wonderful Old Winter!
