P is for Pizza...and Pigs...and Pickles

I was in charge of alphabet days today and we had lots of fun because I got the letter 'P'.  There are so many    great words that start with 'P'.  But I chose to focus on the very best thing - pizza.

When I worked at the daycare before Whitney was born, there was a pizza song that we would play almost everyday in the toddler room.  It is called 'I am a pizza' and it is a bit addicting.  But I thought the kids might like dancing to it.  Whitney is in the middle of a jump in this picture.

We read a pizza book and did some coloring.  Will was clever enough to get a pizza inside the letter 'P', instead of just a regular circle.  I thought it looked pretty cool, but I am not sure the kids quite got it.

Something I saw online was to do a beanbag toss into a pizza box.  Will and I were both excited about this because then we got to order a nice pizza from Dominoes so we could have the box.  I don't have any beanbags though, so we used a small ball, a ring, and a pair of socks.  The girls had to get pretty close to the box to get the objects inside the holes.

Rachel decided to make the game more challenging by knocking over the box.  Take that you silly old box.

Then we did an activity I was especially proud of because it used so many 'P's.  We Painted Pictures of Pizzas onto Paper Plates.  I painted them brown ahead of time for the crust and then the girls did yellow for cheese and red for pepperoni and green for peppers and olives.  Both the girls loved the painting and spent a long time on their 'pizzas'.   

We made pizza for the snack.  I made some homemade dough beforehand and the girls got to roll it out and put on toppings.

They turned out pretty good.  Whitney even ate her slices and she usually doesn't like eating at alphabet days.  We also had pears to go with the pizza so it could be a little healthy.

While the pizzas were cooking, we made Pig Puppets.  I didn't get any pictures of the making of the puppet because I kept having to check on the pizza.  I had never made smaller sizes and I wasn't sure how long they would need to cook.  But here is a picture of the finished products we made today.

And, just for kicks, 'P' is also for pickle.

I ate a pickle the other day and Rachel wanted a bite.  She had to hold the pickle herself.

Look at the happy face.  I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into.  Anyway, we had a great 'P' day.  I am lucky that I get to skip 'Q' next week and someone else will have to plan it.

Seriously Cute

So we really haven't been doing very much here in Cheney.  The weather has been cold and the snow outside has become pretty icy.  So I have been trying to keep the children entertained indoors; here are a few seriously cute pictures of some seriously cute kids.

Whitney got some new shirts and pants for Christmas.  One of my favorite is this 'Seriously CUTE' shirt.  Whitney seemed to really like it too because she doesn't often sit and smile for the camera.

Rachel in her new jacket.  I wonder what secret has her smiling.

Playdough is a wonderful invention.  We have been playing with it a lot with the cold weather.  Here Whitney helps teddy bear get a turn smashing the playdough into the table.  I'm sure teddy bear was thrilled.

We gave Whitney a big W and Rachel a big R to paint for Christmas.  Whitney did a great job; she loves painting.  Rachel even painted most of her R before getting bored.  We plan on hanging the letters over their beds in their bedrooms.

It was opposite day.  Whitney had a red top and purple pants and Rachel had a purple top and red pants.

Grandma Keeler sent matching dresses for the girls for Christmas.  They wore their dresses to church and looked simply adorable.

I have some little weights for exercise that have recently turned into phones.  Will and Whitney had quite the conversation for awhile.

We got a package in the mail the other day from Will's parents.  It had lots of neat things, but what Whitney was most excited about was these high heel shoes.  Here she spends a little while learning how to put them on.

Then she clip clopped all over the house.  We haven't let Rachel try hers though because her walking is still only so so and that is with no shoes.

Along came a night of who can knock daddy over.  The girls took turns 'pushing' over Will.  Will was very good at making faces and pretending how very strong the girls were.  Go Rachel Go!

Teeth brushing time is always a chore in this house.  We try to make it more fun for the girls or they just scream.  Whitney got to 'pop' my cheeks after brushing her teeth.  How exciting.

So those are our seriously cute pictures.  I really love my daughters; they just make my day brighter.

Goodbye 2012

We had a fun New Years Eve down in Pasco.  We weren't originally going to be down there for New Years Eve, but our Cheney friends we were going to hang out with were too sick, so we stayed in Pasco.  And we had a good time.  We went to the community college that has a big shebang called First Night.

Whitney helped the clown during his performance, so she got to have a clown nose.

There also was a juggling performer who was pretty good.

And a karate demonstration that was pretty cool.  I am not sure Whitney was really interested in watching the people break the cement blocks, but I thought it was fun to see.  This was the teacher breaking like seven blocks with his elbow.

Whitney's most favorite thing of the night was this bounce house.  There were actually two bounce houses the kids could play on, but the other one was a lot more popular and had like a twenty minute wait, so Whitney just stuck with this one.

My favorite part of the evening was this concert by a group that uses recycled objects as instruments.  One of the members was a great singer and they all danced and played well and it was pretty awesome.  Rachel was intrigued by the loud noise (and Whitney manged to sleep through the whole thing).

We celebrated New Years Day with a chocolate fountain.  Yummy!  Happy 2013 Everyone!

Christmas 2012

Sorry that this post is a little late; we have been having some blogger difficulties.  But we did have a really fun Christmas and we wanted to put up some pictures of our adventures down in Pasco with family.

The girls got really into decorating the Christmas tree.  Whitney and Rachel both did a surprisingly good job at leaving the decorations alone after they were all on the tree.

This was the acting of the nativity story.  Will was Joseph and Rachel was kind of Mary and kind of baby Jesus (a pretty hard job if you ask me).  Whitney just followed whoever she was in the mood to follow and I was the narrator.  It turned out pretty good; we should go pro.

We started, as per tradition, with our stockings on Christmas morning.  Whitney loved pulling things out of her stocking and Rachel loved looking at the things inside hers.  

Whitney had no problem digging right into the presents; she was in her element this year.  She kept going around and asking people to find another Whitney present.

Rachel was a bit more hesitant about her present opening; she opened a couple and then mostly wanted to wander around.  Whitney didn't mind though because we let her open some Rachel presents too.

The girls both reading new Christmas books; I think Whitney's book is actually a coloring book.  Rachel is looking at an ABC gospel book. I am glad my girls like books so much because I enjoy reading to them.

Other people also enjoying their presents.  I think everyone had a great Christmas.

It actually snowed Christmas morning.  So we went outside after the present opening and collected some snow from off the trampoline to put into a cup and make snow cones.  Whitney chose to mix the two syrups that my family has and make one blue raspberry/cotton candy snow cone.  It didn't turn out too bad.

Merry Christmas 2012 everyone!

Some decorating

A bunch of families in our ward decided to have a joint family home evening.  We met at the church to make gingerbread houses - well, technically, graham cracker houses.  It was fun to see all the creative designs for the houses.

 

Whitney was really interested at the beginning.  She liked handing me graham crackers and watching me magically stick them together with the frosting.

She even tried to help a little bit in the design.  We kept the house pretty simple.

Then came the fun part of picking out the candy.  Everyone brought candy to share, so there was a lot of variety.  One of the biggest hits was the reeses pieces we brought, so we will have to remember that for next year.  Whitney and Rachel both had fun eating the candy during the house making.

Everyone gets in on the house making action.  I made most of the house and then Will did the decorating.

Will pretends to take a bite of the finished house.  We didn't actually eat very much of our house, but we sure had fun making it.

We also got to do some decorating down in Pasco.  Whitney helps my mom make some gingerbread cookies.

She only actually decorated a couple before getting bored, but that's okay.  We had some gingerbread men and some karate men, so it was fun.