Making a Dog House

Saturday, December 27, 2014

After Christmas we had plans to go visit Ryan’s cousins and go camping, so we needed Alfie to be taken care of while we were gone. Our neighbors agreed to come and fill his food and water bowls for him every day, but he needed a dog house to stay in. So Ryan looked into some examples online and then made one himself with the extra wood from when he did our roof.

 It turned out really nice. He designed it to have a little porch for the food bowls to sit on and a door so we could close it when Alfie wasn’t using it. He tar-papered and shingled it with some of our extra shingles, and then painted it with Jared.

 The paint color was very similar to our houses, so in the end it was a very nice match to our house. Jared, being the independent and adventurous three-year-old that he is, always wants to see if he can get in on the action lately; so he asked Daddy if he could help. They had a good time painting together and did a great job.

For the final touch, Ryan cut an old foam mattress to fit exactly into the floor of the house. He had the roof able to come off, so it was easy to put the bedding in. Alfie wasn’t too sure about his new house at first, but we taught him to go inside and lay down and he didn’t mind it so much as long as we were sitting there looking at him telling him he’s a good boy. So, we put it out on the back porch, glad to have somewhere for Alfie to sleep while we were gone.

Christmas Fun

Thursday, December 25, 2014

On Christmas morning, Ryan surprised us by making pancake art, that's what I would call it. He had brought home condiment dispensers one day and wouldn’t tell me what they were for. That kept me guessing all the way until that morning.

He made some pretty fun stuff, and Jared and I got to tell him what shapes we wanted: star, lion, Santa, heart, snakes, etc. Karl just loves to eat pancakes, it’s probably one of his favorite foods, so he was just happy to be having them for breakfast.

After eating, we went in to open our presents. Ryan passed them out one by one and we took turns seeing what we each got. Between the four of us we got some things to help organize the garage, golfing supplies, candles, art supplies, accessories, pajamas, keyboard piano, mega bloks, books, avenger toys, and some really nice handcraft gifts.

Karl got pooped out in the middle of opening presents so we took a break so I could get him in bed, and then we continued with just the three of us. Karl opened the rest of his after he woke up; but I think he was more interesting in all the wrappings and paper that was piled around. Pretty interesting stuff when you’re a baby.

Ryan and Jared didn’t waste any time in starting to play the Star Wars III Lego game Jared got from Santa. They had a fun time with it. Jared wasn’t really familiar with Jedi’s before, but he sure likes them now.

We made sure Alfie got something for Christmas too, porkhide twists to chew on… so he wouldn’t be tempted to chew on the boys' new toys. J

The thing that brings Christmas its joy and meaning is being able to feel and celebrate His love and the love of family. It was a fun day! We’re glad we got to spend it together and skyping with family. :)

Christmas Eve

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Our family tradition for Christmas Eve is to watch movies and eat snacks and treats. It’s just what we enjoy doing and we look forward to it every year. This year we rented the new Transformers and TMNT movies. They were pretty awesome. Jared, who already loves transformers and TMNT and has some of their toys, loved being able to see them “for real” and in action.

Another Christmas Eve tradition is that we each open one present. Instead this year we just opened one family present, our new camera. It was an upgrade from the camera we had always used before, so we were looking forward to having our memories saved in better quality. So we decided to open the camera for Christmas Eve and then we could figure out how it works and be able to use it on Christmas and get the nicer pictures. It was kind of fun to play with all the new features. Jared and Ryan were very good test subjects. :)

Something we also all participated in was delivering pies. I made five of the same pie, Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie, to keep it simple. Ryan took two to work and the boys and I dropped off a couple to families in our ward, to thank them all for helping with the process of getting the roof done, whether it was working on the roof, providing dinner, or baby-sitting, and to wish them a Merry Christmas. We are so grateful for all that our friends and ward family does for us!

The fifth pie was for us, to enjoy with our Christmas Eve fun. :)

A New Sunbeam!!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Through the month of December Jared got to go to the opening exercise of primary so he could get used to being in there with his new teachers. I decided to take some pictures of one of those last days. Not only was this my little boy graduating to Sunbeams it was saying good-bye to all my nursery kids, since I had the senior nursery class.

Ryan liked to be the one to take Jared to nursery, so he took him and stayed with him when the kids started going to the Primary room.

I really had a great time with those nursery kids! They and the teachers I got to work with will always have a place in my heart. 

Now that Jared's been a Sunbeam for about two months, he's got to liking it and his teachers. He used to cry, when we'd try to leave him in that big primary room, and try and chase after us, which ever one of us was dropping him off. But, now he just smiles and waves bye. He's pretty happy to be there. Ryan had sewed him his very own scripture bag too, and we got him his own pocket sized Book of Mormon to fit in it. He also has a special pocket in his bag, for a snack he gets when class is over if he's good. We're definitely proud to have such a bright little Sunbeam in our home! He's always making us smile!

Handmade Teddy Bears

Sunday, December 21, 2015

During December, when Ryan had gone home teaching to one of his families he found out that they had been looking for a red bear to help Santa give their son for Christmas, and had been having  a hard time finding one. This boy was also one of my senior nursery class kids and a friend of Jared’s. Whenever his parents had taken him to Santa he’d tell Santa he wanted a red bear for Christmas. They weren’t sure why he wanted a red bear of all things, but if that’s what he kept telling Santa they figured it was important to him. So Ryan offered to make one for them.

In no time he had looked up a pattern online, bought some clothe and sewed a bear. He did a green one first, which is the color Jared said he would like. When that one turned out good, Ryan made another with the red clothe. They both turned out great!! I was so impressed. There were two ways you could sew the bear’s limbs on. Ryan chose this way using buttons so that the bears arms and legs could move. Jared really liked them. He really wanted to keep both, so we let him say good bye to the red bear the Sunday morning before we took it to church and gave it away. The family really appreciated it, but I never heard how the boy liked it. All I know is Jared loves his “baby bear.”