January Art Farts 2013

Maria's Greek/Roman Warriors- Percy Jackson Inspired

Chalk Love Birds

Christina's Greek/Roman Warriors

Christina Free Art Oil Pastels

Snowmen at Night (Above Christina, Below Maria)

Eli's Free Art while we worked!

Maria Free Art (She drew and insisted I color)

 

Possibly Literary Blasphemy....

Ok. I'm just going to come out and say it.

I like these books even better than Harry Potter.

I love Harry Potter. My mind is not working right now to go into a deep comparison. But these past few weeks of reading with the girls has been utterly awesome times infinity. Even Joe has caught the majority of the readings and agrees this book series is just amazing.

We just finished the Mark of Athena. Yes. I cried. There are 2 more books yet to be written and we were all in shock at the ending. But not to the point of wanting to send death threats to Rick.

I just love the characters. UNDERSTATEMENT.
Percy and Annabeth.

Leo!!!

Nico di Angelo.

Piper and Jason.

Hazel.

Frank. I know they're going to kill Frank. I just have a weird feeling.
Did I mention Percy and Annabeth? Seriously. They are the best.
Percy can control water. It's flipping awesome.
I love them.

Not to mention that my girls are Ancient Greek & Roman history buffs and can count roman numerals.

The way it's written is just such a good balance. It's funny. It's real. It's mythical. It's thrilling. It's clever. It's all interlaced perfectly in detail. It's written from different character view points which only makes you love the characters more. There's diversity! Plus there are plenty of books!

I really think we've read all 8 books within the last 2 months. That's about 3,000 pages. We go on binges during the weekends and read for hours. 

But now... alas... we must wait.

I feel so emotionally drained. I can't believe we have to wait. Where do we even go from here?

I was thinking maybe we could start the Little House on The Prairie series but how can one go from black Stygian iron from the underworld to a tree ax. How can one go from Arion (fastest horse in the world that can run on water), Blackjack (a beautiful black Pegasus with a New York attitude) & Temptest (an untamed wind spirit horse) to covered wagons. How can one go from Bacchus' raging diet Pepsi parties in the coliseum to Ma & Pa braiding someone's hair?

Where do we go from here?

In August The Sea of Monsters comes out. Hopefully they wont BUTCHER it like the first movie.

Then we wait for The House of Hades in the fall.

....

Rick Riordan better not die.

At least we'll have Maria's Percy Jackson Party in February.

** Update: We had a friend come over and the girls were trying to get their friend addicted to the series too. Kind of funny. At dinner we were talking:
Maria: "Ok!!! Mom. (Giggle, giggle) Christina has a love on NICO!!!"
Me: "Do you mean a crush?"
Christina: "MARIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Me: "Christina, I don't know why you care. If I wasn't married to daddy I would have a crush on Leo."
Maria: "Well do you want to know who I like?"
Me: "Obviously, yes."
Maria: "I love alllllllllllllllllllllll the boys."

Eli Bolton- 16 Months

 

We LOVE this little guy.

Oh how fun he is!! He is starting to copy everything we do! I love it especially when the girls are doing jumping jacks and he's bouncing up and down. He LOVES to read books. He sits very contentedly book after book after book after book.....

He loves to point to things when I say the word. He's great at identifying!!

He enjoys making sounds. His first word, beside ball, was "Jesus" quite a few months back. He also loves to use his words during diaper changes. "Papa, Yaya, Mom, Dada, Sissy, Woof!!" and of course he loves to make car noises. He follows directions really well. He's a climber but since he listens it's never anything too wild.

And miraculously... the stars aligned and HE SLEPT THE ENTIRE NIGHT 7PM- 6:50AM. He woke up once to say MOM!!! at 5AM but that was it. I know I shouldn't get my hopes up. But I'm not going to lie... today I find myself in a super great mood!!

Elijah loves to go on walks outside. He loves to ride the car shopping cart at the grocery store. He's just so mellow and easy and wonderful. He loves his bath. He's super tender and gives hugs all the time. He folds his arms for prayer. Whenever I ask him if he wants his tenders he starts hyperventilating and says, "Yeah!! Yeah!! Yeah!!!" He loves to dance. I could watch him boogie all day long!!

He has recently been in a little phase where he "hits" me only. But I hold his arms and put him in a time out in my lap. Over and over I tell him to be nice and gentle to mommy. He's is doing much better! In fact when I ask him randomly to show mommy how to be gentle, he'll rub the back of his head to the front of his face really softly and smile.

He does sometimes get tired and will start throwing a fit. It really is not often! But when it does happen it's pretty cute. He gets a very sad face, goes on his belly into a push up position and will arc his back. It takes all my will power not to smile!

We had our 15M shots with Dr.Altoff. He offers the chicken pox and MMR separately so the kids have a bit of a rest for their bodies. Elijah did great with the shots. 

He's 20 lbs 4 oz. 

33"

And in the 50% for head circumference.

Happy Birthday Dr.King!!!

We kept the day simple!! We celebrated one of our heroes by having multi-colored pancakes. Reading books, discussing and doing some simple art/writing. And of course rainbow sprinkle cake for after dinner!

Maria wrote: Dear Martin Luther King,

Thank you for talking about freedom.

Thank you for convincing to be kind. 

Christina wrote:
 Dear Martin Luther King Jr.,
Thank you for all you have done. If you weren't here I would have not been here. You gave a speech that convinced people that black people have the right to do anything they want to do. Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Jr. I hope you have a good day today. You are like Christ because you convinced people to love and not hate. I have 6 black friends all because of you. I think it was horrible and sad someone shot you. If I lived in your days I would have done what you did too because I think blacks should have the same rights as white people. Were you nervous when you gave your speech? I think the laws are unfair too. I also think that it was so so so so unfair that Rosa Parks got arrested. I love your dream! Your dream did happen. I hope you had a good good good life. Love, Christina

This guy celebrated in style by heading off to the annual NNBCS dinner. This year it was at the Nugget. He sat with the UNR table and mingled with lots of fun people... our lil' socialite.

Art Museum- Chinese New Year

 

 It was a simple day at the museum but still fun. We made snake wind hangers and dragon puppets.

 

I never get this "road" exhibit. Why can't I do an art show with pictures I've shot out the car window.

Lame.

 

Hope the museum updates their galleries soon. We need some new art to look at while we're there!!

Ah, Reverence.....

Oh my word. This was a good one. Tonight for Family Home Evening, a time set aside and recommended by prophets to teach family members gospel principles and spend quality time together... ended up quite possibly one of the funniest ones EVER.

I admit, I'm usually tired and grumpy at the end of the night... so I find I'm a little more strict. After I had just warned about reverence.... I almost peed my pants. The activity was to show gospel pictures and ask questions about the gospel story. After, the kiddos roll a dice and we build a snowman together by drawing.
I made this chart to go along with the activity and also posted it on my primary blog... hopefully they wont run into the same problem AT CHURCH.

 

Maria rolled a 6 for body and made.... drumroll please.....

 Best. Family. Home. Evening.  EVER.

I'm so glad the girls had no idea why we were laughing so hard.

Another Year in Primary....

 

I get so confused. They're constantly changing the names of classes. I'm pretty sure I got last year's signs wrong.

Anyways. Here are my sweet munchkins. I'm so happy to be in primary with them!!! This will be Christina's first year in Senior Primary.

More Truck Adventures- Up Behind Olivia's House

 

It was such a beautiful day. We headed for a "drive in the mountains" with daddy. 

Drive in the mountains with daddy= FUN!!!!!

It was gorgeous. The snow had this hair-type texture. It was sparkling and just plain awesome being outside!

A Date With Christinoula

 

I had to crop my face because it looked like I ate 3 people, a horse & your dad's RV. However, other than my after holiday plumpness aside, we had been planning to take our sweet daughter out to celebrate her baptism. Just the 3 of us!!

I can't even count the number of times I wanted to cry because it was so nice to just focus on her.

To focus on what a beautiful girl she is.

To focus on what a polite and kind hearted soul she is.

She was so happy. She smiled the entire time and so did we!!

She was the boss for the night. She wanted to eat at Olive Garden so we enjoyed a fine meal with great conversation. Next she was thinking about an indoor archery range but before we left, my dad was super sweet. He gave her $20 and said to buy dessert and have a little extra fun! She was so excited. She had the money in her purse and decided she really wanted to go to build a bear. Since Papa was footing half the bill, we decided we'd head on over.

I'm just so grateful she's not growing up too fast. I know a bunch of 8 year olds that would probably want to see a movie or go to a Justin Beiber concert, but our lil' munchkin wanted to get a stuffed animal. I loved Build a Bear. Everyone was flamingly happy and wonderful.

 

Fluff me indeed.

 

Meet Victoria, the tabby cat. Christina was really thoughtful and got a bear for her sister too. It was $5. Score.

 

For Thanksgiving, the girls had these envelopes we wrapped for them. Each day they opened a layer of paper and me and Joe wrote down a reason we are thankful for them. The last day was an "official" $5 gift certificate to Claire's. Christina and I were super excited because it was a Christmas clearance!! She gave Maria a bunch of treats from Claire's which was very thoughtful.

In all honesty, I think daddy would have preferred the archery range. But he was a GREAT sport and let us shop till we dropped. When Eli turns 8, I'm sure I'll have to go to a football game and freeze. :)

It was a great time!!! Thanks Yaya and Papa for watching the babes so we could enjoy our special time together!!

2013- El Ano De Matador Imposiblemente Atractivo

 

Is there a better way to start off the year? I think not.

As a self proclaimed thrift rat, I find no shame in admitting I buy used crap.

However, sometimes the crap is really nothing short of treasure.

For example, when Elijah was a baby Maria found this outfit for him. Quote, "He can wear it when we go to the ballet." Yes Maria. Yes.

 

Joe indulges me. I don't think he was too excited about the lace. But a gentleman wears a lacy collar.

He. Just. Does.

¡Bienvenido 2013! Las bebidas están por este lado.