Moon Sand

Yesterday our daughter's cousins come over to play. Five (Six including mine) little girls all marched into the house and immediately asked, "Amy, Do we really get to play with Moon Sand?" "Yes." I said.

Amanda: "Really!? I've never ever gotten to touch it before."

Jessica: "Is it really sand?"

Lindsey: "Where is the Moon Sand?"

Moon Sand is a supposed rival to playdough. I really like it! Unlike playdough, Moon Sand is easily vacuumed up and the colors don't stain your fingers. It feels like a mildly wet sand you may get a little sandy feeling on your hands but it brushes off immediately. It's a little bit harder to mold into small shapes, but it comes with neat molds for making people/animals etc. depending on the set you buy.

I placed a tablecloth on my kitchen table and let the girls go crazy with Moon Sand, in the end the kitchen looked, as my sister said "a horrid mess." However... all I had to do was lift the corners of the table cloth have the sand pool to the middle, squish it into a ball and put it away.

I imagine that if I was using playdough that I would have had pieces stuck and squished into the tablecloth and the floor would have needed to be scrubbed with a wet rag to get all the little pieces. INSTEAD... my tablecloth was clean--no stuck on pieces, no dyed spots. Any moon sand on the floor could be vacuumed or swept up with a broom-try that with playdough.

What is she saying?

Most parents start with a little bundle of joy and automatically learn their child's every cry and whimper and pretty much know exactly what the baby wants. This is harder starting with a toddler, since some words are known and others are not... it has taken us a little time to figure out what our daughter is asking for.

Some words have suddenly gotten very clear.

"What would you like for lunch?"

"CHEESE!!!" (she says this while signing "please"... I guess to her they sound the same. So occasionally she'll only give the sign... this means she want's cheese.)

"Drink." (again easy to understand)

But she has two words that until today we had not figured out...

"adandanadnaduyyadaynyayaydy" (talk given in desperation when she needs attention RIGHT NOW.)

also...

"meimeimemimemeimeimeimei" (talk given just to show you something.)

and...

"honyhonyonhyonoyehonyehoyn" (talk given when she is patiently waiting for something, and is just letting you know, 'I'm waiting.")

WE FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!!

See... when I call for Andrew I usually say, "Honey?" (this is usually in a calm voice, no rush.)

but if I need something immediately I call "Andrew!"

when Andrew calls me it's "Amy." (usually to show me something on the computer or in a book.)

So... "adandanadnaduyyadaynyayaydy" is "Andrew! Andrew! Andrew!!"

and... "honyhonyonhyonoyehonyehoyn" is "honey? honey? honey?"

also...."meimeimemimemeimeimeimei" is "Amy. Amy. Amy."

Is this a good thing? Having your child use your spouses pet names too?

Christmas 2008

Christmas

~Christmas 2008~

Since our daughter is a Foster child she received presents from Giving Tree/Sub for Santa. It's becoming a tradition for Andrew and I to pick ornaments from the giving tree. Basically you pick the ornament and on the back it has an age and wish from a child~you can usually find a 'Giving Tree' in the basement of the JFSB on BYU campus. (Last year I received Boy: 14 Wish: Art Supplies. I had a lot of fun picking out colored pencils, paint and art paper! Andrew picked a little girl and picked out a dolly.) It was very interesting being on the receiving end of Giving Tree.

Giving Tree asked us for 3 wishes. For wishes we sent: Doll, Books and Blocks. (Basically her three favorite things in the world.) Andrew went to pick up the "THREE" gifts and instead returned with an entire sack full of presents! shirts, pants, purple pajamas with little cows on them, 2 dollies, Christmas ornaments, several books, underwear, toy phones, an airplane, blocks, candy etc... Andrew and I were shocked! (Naw... she wasn't spoiled or anything!) ;)

Grandma & Grandpa T bought her a tricycle. She woke up Christmas morning (we dressed her first) she ran into the living room and let out "OH! OOooo!"

Grandma & Grandpa R came over to see her open the rest of the Christmas gifts. Here they are reading a new story.

Grandma H came the day before and gave our daughter a new dress and Moonsand!

Opening the present!

Andrew and I found these adorable bright red overalls (with a little Dalmatian doggie in the pocket).

Playing with the light switches!

We went to Toys-R-us to find her a doll, however she found a cell phone instead and refused to put it down, so we switched gifts. Her two favorite toys at the end of the day! (Cell phone and Tricycle.)

She wore her bright red overalls for all of Christmas. We went to a party at Andrew's parents house and my parent's house. (yes...she was spoiled even more at them too! All the nieces and nephews wanted to give her a Christmas gift!)

At the end of the day the bright red overalls ended up missing! and we still haven't found them! So... if you happen to see a pair of bright red overalls with a little Dalmatian doggie in the pocket...size 24 months, it's probably the lost pair!

Fluffy White Stickers

FLUFFY WHITE STICKERS

I love Children Books.

Quite often I'll cuddle up to a children book aisle in the Library and read. This habit began in Elementary School and follows me even today.

One fine day while reading in the Children section (I had been there quite awhile). I could hear two young girls, probably 6 and 8 years old, in the next row begging their mother for quarters.

The Library sells pencils for .25 cents and notebooks for .50 cents.

"Mom!" They begged, "please! can i have a quarter!"

The mother not paying much attention handed them each two quarters.

With all the glee a young child can muster they disappeared around the corner; each with their quarters held tightly in their hands.

At that moment I needed to use the bathroom. Why would I be telling you this? Just keep reading.

I went to the bathroom. Nothing abnormal about it: stalls, sinks, paper towels....and .... two young children trying to use the tampon machine...

"What is it?" I could hear them whispering to each other.

"I don't know, let's open it!"

"OH! It's a sticker!"

"Fluffy White Stickers!"

Realizing with horror that the young girls had each purchased a tampon pad with their quarters I tried to warn them. "Um, those aren't stickers."

Both turned around the fluffy white stickers stuck to their T-shirts! They ran from the bathroom and I cackled in laughter.

I exited the bathroom to find the mother (still not paying attention) as the girls danced around her singing, "Fluffy White Stickers! Fluffy White Stickers!"

Then the mother noticed... They lost their Fluffy White Stickers very quickly.

Sand

Early in my quest to become a teacher I saw Mr. Ty Robinson (Provo High School) complete a lab which included sand. The students study the various sand through microscopes and determine if they have been altered by wind or water.

Friends from my major will note that I collected sand on all geology trips. Yes... my backpack got very heavy... but it me it was worth it. I have now collected sand from several places in Utah, California, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, England, New Zealand, Hawa

ii, etc, etc...basically anywhere that my family and friends have traveled and I've been able to convince them to bring back sand.

(Just so you know, it is legal to bring back sand into the United States, but not soil.)

As I was perusing my various sand samples the other day finishing up a lesson plan, I discovered that I am missing my sand from Hawaii and New Zealand!!!! AHH!!!! :(

So.... If you by chance happen to travel to either, would you please bring me back some sand?

Twilight Spoof

THIS IS SO FUNNY!!!!! it's a twilight spoof. HAHAHAHA!! (you should probably know that I don't like the Twilight series...)

http://www.take180.com/s/ep5l7

Things I did Today

Today has been a lovely and very interesting. Last night Rew and I didn't go to sleep until 2 am. We went stargazing up Spanish Fork Canyon; I slept in until 10:40am this morning. And since I was still tired at 2pm, I took a very short nap.

At 4:12pm you would have found me in the kitchen howling in laughter!

I have always enjoyed cooking. In fact, when Rew asked my father for my hand in marriage. (You must understand my father always says something to the new son-in-law to be... such as "She's cranky." Little things to torment the man asking to see if he can live with all of his daughter's quirks.) The first thing my dad said was, "She's a really good cook." Rew in all his excitement proclaimed, "YES! I know!"

I was going to make bread.

Two kinds: bread with Parmesan cheese baked into the crust AND cinnamon walnut swirled bread.

Since both start with the same bread recipe I was doubling the ingredients.

Off I went, combining flour, sugar, yeast, milk, water, shortening.

I set the timer for 9 minutes and started kneading the dough. It looked wonderful and was smelling great (like bread dough).

It wasn't until after the kneading that I realized my mistake.

I'd read the ingredients... but not the portions.

Horrified I pulled out the recipe again! I'm used to changing a few portions; adding an extra sprinkle of nutmeg, perhaps an extra tablespoon of vanilla.

but NEVER this bad....

Here's the original recipe (doubled):

1 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

2 cups scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 t Salt

1 T Shortening

6-6.5 cups Flour

NOW.... here's what I did... (what I did wrong is bolded)

2 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

1 cup scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 T Salt

2 cups Shortening

6 cups Flour

I can understand misreading yeast and salt. But the SHORTENING????

Alright you Home Economic Majors, what happens to the bread when you add THAT much.... Well! I'm curious, so I'm going to cook it and I'll let you know!

Until then.... I'm going back to sleep.

(several hours later: Looks like fluffy pie crust... very rock hard pie crust. Good for throwing away or knocking someone out.) *sigh* Now to try again...

Tagged

Holly tagged me; I'm supposed to share things in groups of 8. Enjoy:

8 TV shows

Hmm.... when Rew and I moved, I begged him to let me throw out the TV. In the end I won and I've LOVED not having a TV. We watch TV shows online (fewer commercials) If a BYU football game is on we go to Rew's parents house. For news we read newspapers and online articles. And It's really helped me to not waste hours on end sitting in front of a box... unless you count the computer. So here's a TV show I liked:

-Pushing Daisies (recently cancelled.... until further notice)

and here's what I do on my computer:

-Check e-mail

-Check Facebook

-Check Job Searches

-Check my blog

-Play Peggle with Rew

-Read webcomics. My favorites are: Schlock Mercenary, Sherman's Lagoon and The Order of the Stick.

8 things I did yesterday

-Made boiled eggs for breakfast

-Finished reading Artemis Fowl

-Went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with Rew

-Searched for jobs

-Watched the Holy War (BYU vs. Utah)

-Ate lemon pepper chicken and pineapple orange juice for dinner

-Cleaned and scrubbed my house

-Played the piano

8 places I love to eat

-Los Hermanos

-Olive Garden

-Bajio

-Magleby's Fresh

-At the Winchester Bay beach.

-Up in the High Uintas.

-In my Kitchen or while sitting on the couch

-At my Mom's house

8 things I am looking forward to

-Green Olive chip dip for Thanksgiving (you are forbidden to marry into my family if you don't like this. If you're born into the family...you will like it...)

-Snowflakes to hang in the house and snowflakes outside

-The T Family annual White Elephant Party

-Having a job

-The wedding of my tall, dark, dashingly handsome, plays the guitar/piano/sings tenor, airline pilot, BYU graduate, scuba diving, skiing, hiking, shy, loves to tease brother Matt. (fiance unknown at this time....)

-Being able to properly sight read piano music.

-Future children

-Eternity with my husband Andrew

8 things on my wish list

-A job!

-A trip to New Zealand

-Sand from the south western edges of the Indonesia

-Rainbow hued ammonites from east Canada

-Foreign coins from any country

-Crinoids from Europe

-A working car (camry) or truck (Jeep Grand Cherokee) :)

-A garden

8 people I tag

-you

-u

-ewe

-Uncle Sams needs ____.(please send sheep.)

-Only ____ can prevent forest fires.

-Be all that ____ can be.

-Jesus wants ____ for a Sunbeam!

-As I have loved ____, love one another.

Snow Leopards

My most favorite animal is the snow leopard. This mighty Unica unica lives in the mountainous regions of Nepal and the Himalayas (roams through twelve other countries in central Asia). Snow leopards are generally solitary animals but they have been found hunting in packs. Snow leopards have thick cream-white colored fur with black rosettes and spots. They have large paws and their tail is about the same length as their body; during long nights the snow leopard uses the tail like a scarf/blanket to cover their face. Because snow leopards lack the larynx they cannot roar. Their short teeth require them to strangle prey (similar to cheetahs). Snow leopards are endangered.

(Charcoal drawing snow leopard, 2004)

What is your favorite animal?

Books

You may entirely ignore this post if you like, I just wanted to remember the books I've read lately. (Ones highlighted were my favorites.)

Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 by J.K Rowling

The Broker, The Client, Testament by John Grisham

Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Going Postal, Thief of Time, Monstrous Regiment, Hogfather, Sourcery, Making Money, Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

Instead of Three Wishes by Mary Whalen Turner

Have you read any good books lately? Let me know if you find any good ones!

Oh... and I should explain that I DO NOT like the Vampire series. (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer(yes, I've read them.)) Sorry to burst your little bubbles of happiness. I admit that Meyers has a unique writing style and as an author I respect her for writing. But love-sick vampires (or soon to be vampire) feigning for each other... blah. You can read the books this way too: open a page, read a paragraph. Close the book. Repeat. Make sure you choose a different page. I will NOT be one of the people awaiting the movie.

2007-2008

The following scanned images are actually blog entries from November 2007 to Oct 2008. When my computer crashed I lost the electronic copy. Luckily, I had printed it all. I tried to put them in order.

Hah... upsidedown... oh well!