Hello, my lovelies! Let jump right into our week!
On Monday we did our usual house cleaning, laundry, dishes, putting aways all the stuff I was too lazy to put away the night before. (I mean, NO! I was NEVER lazy. You grew up in a spotless house.) Nora and Annalise like to help with the dishes the most. And what I mean by "help" is that they play in the water while Mommy actually does the dishes. I like the company though and as long as they keep the water in the sink I'm happy. I've tried having them take turns sweeping the floor, too. Meaning, they push stuff around with a broom, but they like it and I figure it helps feel apart of the chores. I'm thinking about adding mopping in next, since that is the chore I hate THE most. I'll clean bathrooms, no problem. Loads of laundry, not a big deal. Mopping those floors is exhausting! Ugh!
Family Home Evening consisted of watching Wreck It Ralph and then dancing around afterwards. I think the girls got a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcake also. Our FHEs are pretty laid back.
That's a laundry basket on Daddy's head, in case you're wondering.
Daddy as a horse is a long standing Castillo tradition in our house.
Tuesday we had another field tip for Nora's Preschool. We went up to Madera Canyon for the morning. They were learning about setting goals and the letter T, so we went one some trails and made a goal to hike. It was so cute to watch them. Nora was the only girl that day, the other one was sick, but she kept up with all the boys. Annalise was also there and tried to keep up but she just couldn't run as fast. But she is fearless! More than willing to climb rocks and jump off of things. I took a ton of pictures in the canyon so you'll have to look at a bunch of them. :)
They got little treasure maps (more like scavenger hunt lists) to find treasure.
They were more interested in climbing rocks.
And exploring the trees,
And, of course, running as fast as they could.
After their search we ate lunch with friends and everyone left to return home. I had bought an annul pass that day and wanted to stay for a little longer. The girls and I went for a short hike and found a creek to play in. I took a ton of pictures again, so please, bear with me and my picture love. :)
Big sticks are just awesome when you're 3. Or 31. :)
Nora was excited to see a waterfall, if you can call it that. She talks about them a lot for some reason.
Annalise kept saying she was fishing.
Nora found this leaf that she loved.
(she loved it so much that it was just dust by the time we got home.)
They loved playing in the water.
This is my favorite from the day, but at the time I was SO mad at Nora.
(Daddy thinks we'll have to recreate this one when they are older.)
So many picture! This is like 1/16 of what I took!
Just ignore their dirty faces... I should have cleaned them up better.
For sure my favorite of just Nora. She's so pretty when she smiles naturally. Geesh, why can't she do this all the time...on command...for several shots in a row?! Oh, wait, cause she's 3.
Wednesday... we played? I have no clue. I think I need take pictures of everything just so I can remember! I did get a package in the mail. A very special package. See, Todd has always said that I could paint or re stain the kitchen cabinets, essentially, over his dead body. BUT there was a deal for a paint/re stain system from Home Depot for half the regular price. He told me about the sale and let me buy them! AHH! I may have a pretty new kitchen in a matter of months! (It'll take time for us to actually do the project. Buying stuff for projects is always the easiest part of doing home improvement I've decided.) The boxes because the girls favorite toy for the week.
Their "cars" and house and, and, and...
I let them color all over the boxes, which made me the coolest Mom ever! (for that moment)
Thursday Nora had preschool again I tried really hard to get some things organized...but that takes time and effort. I'm getting close to cleaning out the guest room, putting away all the baby stuff in the attic and getting all the "extra" junk out of the house. I would have ever thought we could gather so much STUFF in the almost 5 years we have lived here! I just want to give it all away sometime...but you're dad would freak out! He's a little bit of a hoarder... ;)
Friday I had my friend Nicole over to try to make cheese with me. It failed miserably. We heated the milk too high and then it never set. Cheese making is not a very forgiving process. But I will not give up! I will take you down cheese making process! I'm not sure how, but it WILL happen. I was reflecting how happy I am that I don't expect everything I do to be a success the first time. That would be a lot of pressure and I think I would never try anything. I'm grateful to Todd who taught me that failing is the worst thing, giving up is. Also on Friday our friends the Workmans needed help in their backyard. I went over and helped them smooth out dirt for their backyard. They were laying sod and I told them that if they waited until that night when Todd got off of work then he would help them. They were a day behind since their dirt came a day later than they were told. I'm glad I could "help" them, even though my helping is like 1/4 of the help your dad gives. We also went to my friend Cindy's house that night for dinner and to see her before she left for another trip. My girls just love her and call her Aunt Cindy. It was a crazy day!
Saturday your dad spent the morning helping to lay sod and we cleaned the house. When he got home we went to Lowe's and Home Depot to get some plants to plant! We got a bunch of herbs, basil (sweet and cinnamon), cilantro (my favorite!) and chocolate mint (it's a mint plant that also smells like CHOCOLATE! It's amazing!) We also got a bunch of seeds and dirt. Nora couldn't wait to plant but we have to finish getting the beds ready. She asks us continually about planting. We went that night to Sam's Club since we got a really cheap membership there. Todd has been against the big members stores but I think Sam's Club won him over. Their meats and cheeses are cheaper. And I really want to use them to help with our year supply of food storage (my family goal for the year)
Today at church was this really great story. Our high councilman shared a story from a missionary that reported to them when he returned home. He served in this really poor town in Mexico. They town was so poor that didn't have refrigerators. The town had pulled their resources together to buy 3 fridges that were used by the whole town. The missionaries were teaching a fisherman in the town. He invited the elders to come and look at his catch. The made took them to community fridges and showed them a jar of shrimp and a few small fish. Not a lot by any standard. The missionaries prayed about what principle to teach this man and the newer of the two missionaries said they needed to teach him about tithing. The other missionary thought that was a crazy idea since this man and his family had so very little. They decided to do it and when they finished explaining tithing the man looked them in the eyes and asked them if paying tithing would really bless his family. The elders responded that it would. That Sunday the man took his pennies with him to church and had to elders help him fill in his tithing slip since he couldn't read or write. Later that week the elders visited the man again and he asked them if they wanted to see his catch. The elders were nervous and followed him to the community fridges. This time the man had a whole self to himself. There were now 7 jars of shrimp and several large fishes. The man told them that because of this his family would not go hungry that night. I loved this story. LOVED it. Especially that there were 7 jars in the fridge. What blessings!
Today we also had choir and invited friends over for dinner. And now I'm blogging. :) But it is late and I am really sleepy, so off to bed I go. I love you my dears and I get to see you in the morning, so I'm a very lucky person indeed.
All My Love,
Your Mother
Never stop to clean faces for any photos, well maybe for family portraits. Those darling faces are clean most of the time, and the smudges are so very sweet. I can't honestly say enjoy them while you can, I couldn't, but you will love those photos even more as years go by.
ReplyDeleteIt is comforting to know that the Lord really does live up to his side of this commandment thing, isn't it. It is more subtle for us 'rich' folk. A new convert in our branch (8 months) who is from Egypt, just got a job. He has had no work for so long. The Lord does keep his word.