Popsicles

Grandma and Grandpa sent us a little package and one of the things that was in there were these Popsicle makers. I remember making Popsicles was I was young and have always wanted to make them for the kids but just never have. Finally we got these and it was the time to do it.
I made these and then when Matthew got home from school this was their afternoon snack and we had two neighbor kids over, Kennedy and Justin. They enjoyed them also.
 

These ones have a little spout that fills up with juice on the bottom so Matthew is drinking it in the next picture.

 

This is a great way to deal with hotter days:)

First Grade Field Trip

I was lucky enough to get to go on a field trip with Matthew. This is the first field trip I have been able to go on since he started Kindergarten. However I think this is only his second or third field trip that he has had so I am not too far behind. I asked Allison's favorite friend's mom to watch Allison and it was great that Allison was able to go to the fun place that day also.
I put Matthew on the school bus that morning, drove Allison to her friend's house and then showed up at Matthew's school.
I was give a list of just four boys that I was to be in charge of that day and given their lunches.
I was expecting that Matthew would be the only white boy in my group since there are only 4 white boys in the whole class but I surprisingly had 3 out of the four. Mrs. Johnakin told me one of the four I had was a problem child and to call her if he was misbehaving.
I was excited I only had four to take care of, especially after riding the bus with two classes of first graders. There are four classes all together so we had two buses go.
It was a loud bus ride and I was thinking, oh my goodness what did I get myself into.
We went to a place called Maymont. This is what Maymont is:
"Maymont was given to all of us by James Henry and Sallie Dooley who lived here from 1893 through 1925. They wanted Maymont to be preserved so that new generations could enjoy it as much as they did.  It’s a special place where the man-made elegance of art and architecture is surrounded by the natural beauty of plants, animals, water and paths. Whether strolling through the gardens, touring the mansion, watching river otters play, petting a goat or picnicking on the lawn, Maymont is a gift of 100 acres given for all to enjoy."
Apparently it is kind of something that people do when they come.
The bus ride:

 

Matthew and Bruce

My four boys, Draegan, Matthew, Bruce, and Noah


We went to the petting zoo and Noah was smart and had brought coins to get pellets to feed the goats. They all loved feeding the goats.

As we were walking there was a lady tending the garden that was planted there. She asked us if we wanted some lettuce and all of the boys wanted some so she washed it off for us and gave it to us.

 

I love this picture of the boys also.

We found a little concession area and because I was feeling happy and generous and these boys were so fun to be around I got them ring pops. Matthew thought I was the coolest mom and the other boys that I was pretty cool also. 

I had fun taking pictures of them but I only brought our old small camera. The quality is not great but I am glad I still have pictures of the day.
We did see two bears as we were walking around.

 

 

There was a little class at the beginning talking about different stages of different animals like butterflies and frogs and such. Then we went an aquarium type place to look at fish and other things and then we were out on our own.
It was fun to listen to the boys talking throughout the day and at the end they would say, "I bet we had the most fun." It made me feel good.

We had fun with the camera on the bus ride home also.
Matthew really enjoyed having me go with him and I absolutely loved it.

 

 

Chamberlayne First Grade Performance

I have been trying to upload the video that I took so Grandparents could watch it but it is not letting me upload it:( Oh well, I at least have some pictures to post. 

Matthew had only been here for two weeks before this program. He did really well learning the songs. Some of their songs were so absolutely adorable. They had moves with some of them and one of the best parts was their music teacher that was jamming along doing all of the moves in front of them to help them. It was a great night. I also really enjoyed that it wasn't a huge drawn out process. They sang about 5 songs and then they were done.

This is all of the first graders.

They sang the song, "I Just Called To Say I Love You"

A funny story about this, and you can kind of see it unfolding on the video but I have to put it up here.
Right before we left the house I had Matthew and Allison go to the bathroom so they wouldn't have to during the performance.
During the performance, Matthew started moving side to side, side to side, and side to side, more then any of the other kids. They were going side to side a little bit but not as much as Matthew. On the video you see Matthew looking at me and then shrug his shoulders. I had asked him if he had to go to the bathroom and he must not have understood my mouth, so he shrugged. As I watched him and watched him, I realized that this little boy wasn't going to last until the end of the program must less, the end of the song. I asked a teacher that was right by me where the bathrooms were. As Matthew is going side to side and kind of grabbing himself I decided enough was enough. It was a good thing that he wasn't in the front row. I moved up closer to the front but to the side and when he looked at me, I motioned for him to just come down. Right in middle of the song and everything, but it was at a good spot because the music teacher turned to the audience and yell, sing along (I just called to say...) Matthew came down, we quickly went to the back and into the bathroom. The principal and assistant principal were worried something was wrong with him. I just had to laugh and say, he had to go to the bathroom and he just couldn't wait. I do have to say though that was the fastest bathroom break he has ever done. He was back up singing before the next song started and they were very close to the end of  I Just Called...
When Chris watched the video (he had just gotten called to the assistant Bear Leader in Cub Scouts the Sunday before and they meet on Thursday nights. Matthew was sad that daddy had told him earlier that he would be at his concert and then he wasn't able to go) Chris also mentioned how fast that was because I just kept the video running while we took care of business:)
It was a fun program and Matthew really like putting it on.
We are enjoying his school.

A Mother's Day Treat!!

The women in our ward had such a treat on Mother's Day. They had all the women 18+ go into the cultural hall second and third hour of church. Young Women and High Priests took care of Primary and Nursery. There were probably some Elder's Quorum guys in there too but their responsibilities were to care for any little ones that weren't old enough to be in nursery yet. Since we have church that starts at 1pm, they had lunch for us. Second hour we all went in there and tables and chairs were all set up for us in a big U shape. The Young Men served us lunch. It was a chicken salad sandwich on a crescent bun and a mixed tropical fruit on the side and some chips on it. There had water for us and the young men were constantly around making sure we had everything we needed or filled up our water for us. Then when we were all done with that they had dessert passed out to us. There were three different kinds of dessert, orange, coconut, or mango. All three of these had the insides scraped out and then there was a sherbert type dessert that was put in their respective peels. They all had a coconut macaroon on top of it. I was served a Mango dessert and I didn't think I would like because I am not a big fan of mango but I LOVED it. It was SO good. I couldn't get enough. I thought it was so good that they did that because it was almost like a healthy dessert and some women can be kind of picky when it comes to desserts and what they will and will not eat. I wish that I could have tasted all three kinds but I didn't get to. It was so good and I LOVED getting to know the people around me. It was such a great hour to just sit and eat and chat. You don't get to do that very often ESPECIALLY at church. Then third hour, the lady that was scheduled to teach that day anyways got to teach the WHOLE Relief Society. That doesn't usually happen very often either. It was so fun to hear such great ideas from so many women.
It definitely made us feel special and I have NEVER heard of this ever happening in a ward before. This was the first year that they had ever done anything like this. Apparently it was one guys idea and the Bishop said yes to it so the guy went and bought everything and put it all together.
I have been hoping that they would do the same or similar thing for the guys for Father's Day but I think they are only making them brownies to give to them:( I think that is such a bummer.
It was really nice though and we absolutely enjoyed every minute of our time together.

Our New Blinds

We have needed blinds in our house ever since we moved in. Thankfully Chris and I each have our own closets to change in and then I hung the few curtains I had over other necessary windows, you know like our bathroom window and such. 

I had a guy come out from budget blinds thinking they would be cheaper because of their name right? He measured all the windows and then at the end he gave me an estimate to get the blinds and install them for a total of $4000. He then wrote some kind of discount and so we would have to pay $3000. Granted there are 20 blinds that needed to be purchased but he was also going to throw some other things in also. 

That was A LOT of money for us. I just kept thinking that it is too much. We don't have that kind of money. When we installed the faux wood blinds in our last house to sell it, it was absolutely miserable and we did a terrible job. We swore we would never install blinds again hence the reason for bringing someone out. We thought about buying some from Lowe's and having them install them but it just wasn't working out. I did extensive research online trying to find the best deals and finally I came across one website that had buy 3 get the 4th free. They also had a 35% discount and they were the blinds we were looking for.

I decided that I would try to install one or two and if it was just too hard then we would hire someone to come do it. I had read numerous different ideas as to making it an easier installation but my brother-in-law had actually just recently installed their blinds and he gave me some tips. Those tips were so very helpful. It made everything go so much smoother and faster. 

After only two days, I had installed all 20 blinds. Chris was pretty impressed with me and I LOVED that I saved about $1500 just by installing them myself.

 

 

I think the valances that came with them look so much better then the last time we installed these types of blinds. We are loving being able to keep the sun out and I am sure it will save on our A/C bill.

 

Sprinklers!

We are having some gorgeous weather here in Virginia. I have had to start mowing the lawn every Saturday since it grows so much in just a week. We finally were able to wash our cars and you know what happens in that process. Well it didn't start getting crazy until I started helping. Then once I got everybody wet I decided to turn the sprinklers on and let the kids play. They had a great time as you can tell.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edible Scriptures?

Matthew has some REALLY good teachers in his CTR 6 class. Brother and Sister Taylor are so well prepared and have great lessons for the kids. Their class apparently just keeps growing and growing. At the beginning of the year they only had about 8 kids. I think they now have 12 and most of them are boys.
They are probably in their 50's and just love those little kids.
One of the weeks they were sent home with this cute craft.
Apparently people has seen it on pinterest and such but I hadn't seen it before so I think it is so adorable. They told they kids they couldn't eat them (aren't you suppose to feast on the scriptures? haha) however they did give the kids chocolate to eat instead of eating these.
 

 

Birthday Present

Matthew got a remote control helicopter for his birthday. He wanted to play with it and we tried but it just wasn't working.
 

You are suppose to charge it before you are able to play with it but it wouldn't ever charge. It was brand new out of the package but the charging light would never come on. We tried different batteries and still nothing so I called up manufacturer.  He had me try many different things to try to make it work and finally we decided it was a broken product. All I had to do to get a replacement was cut off the propellers and take a picture of the blades cut off and then a picture of the UPC code on the box and email it to them. Once I did that then they sent us a new one.
It has been fun playing with it whether you are the driver or not. Here are some fun pictures of him playing with it. We have gotten it to land (or crash) onto the second floor. We have decided that if someone can make it go all the way to the third floor then they are the winners:)

 

 

 

In flight, sorry these are blurry but here is the real action:)

 

 

 

 

 

Too much fun and it wouldn't have been nearly as fun in any other place we have lived. This is such a great present, especially being in this house:)
Thanks grandma and grandpa!