FHE: The wise man and the foolish man

We had a make your own gingerbread house kit from Christmas, and finally got around to putting it together. We thought it would be a fun family home evening activity. We sang the primary song about the wise man and the foolish man, and talked about how important it is to build our lives on a solid foundation, meaning the Savior. Then we decorated :)
The boys had a lot of fun, Parker putting the candy on, and Evan trying to take it off and eat it.
So, someone (i'll confess, it was me!) didn't quite put the house together in the best way to keep it together.
The finished product... and you can see my haircut, even though it wasn't the best hair day.
Evidently this house wasn't build on the rock...

Brothers

One of Evan's favorite things to do when Thomas comes home is to take Thomas' hat of his head and put it on his own... saying "hi!" at the top of his lungs, of course! Since many of Evan's words sound a lot alike, I'm not sure whether he's greeting his daddy or saying "hat." Maybe both?
Parker likes to do whatever his little brother does.
The boys also love playing the piano! It's one of their favorite activities when Daddy is home.
This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys. I came home to find Thomas working on the computer, and the boys asleep on our bed. Adorable, no?

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was more like Valentine's week :) The Thursday before Valentine's Day I heard a knock at the door while I was doing dishes, and so I went to go get it. It was a package on the step, which I brought in since I knew my mom was waiting for a package. I looked at the name and was surprised to find the package addressed to me! Thomas had sent me a dozen long-stem roses! I totally got tears in my eyes... it was so sweet! And came at the perfect moment! It's nice to feel appreciated when you're at home all day, and most evenings, with two toddlers!

For Valentine's Day, I asked Thomas what he wanted for dinner, and he decided on pot roast. Easy enough for me! I decided to flip through a recipe book for dessert, and made the most amazing coconut creme pie I've ever had! Since we made it the night before, our Sunday Valentine's Day dinner was sooo easy! Just setting the table and serving! Evan, as you can see from the above picture, LOVED the pie! He has such a sweet tooth! Evan's more a meat and veggies kind of guy.
Just Martinelli's carbonated apple cider... no alcohol in this house!
This was a picture from Sunday... just Parker being cute. He loves getting all dressed up and going to church.
So, Saturday the 20th BYU had its annual Wyball, a free dance for married and engaged BYU students complete with Kneaders catering and free babysitting. We had so much fun! Parker was so excited to go to "YUB" to dance. The boys had a lot of fun, although Evan tripped and skinned his nose on that fantastic industrial carpet... So, Thomas and I had two fantastic hours to ourselves, then we hung out with the boys upstairs for a bit. We brought the kids into the ballroom on our way out and danced a few songs with the boys on our way out. Parker LOVED the lights and all the people dancing in the ballroom... I wish we could have gotten a picture of that look of pure joy he had on his face. Evan enjoyed it too, and kept pointing at everything saying "oooh!" He also enjoyed eating all the tomatoes he could get his hands on :) We all had a lot of fun, and Parker talked about it for days.

Behold! It came to pass!

Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 18:3)

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children (3 Ne 22: 13)

We've been trying to have regular family scripture study, even with the little ones. It's amazing what a difference it's made! Parker knows that it's part of our evening routine, and he'll actually remind US that it's time to read scriptures. He even likes to stand on chairs and declare "Behold! It came a pass!" Very cute :) He's also learning about his Savior Jesus Christ though, and learning to love him. He enjoys "reading" along with me while we read sometimes. Even if they're not understanding everything all at once, they're feeling the Spirit, and learning the importance of reading. And, every once in a while, we have fantastic teaching moments. Sometimes there's screaming and running around, but sometimes, more increasingly, there's just peace.

Differences

I managed to get the boys asleep by 8 last night, and Evan in his bed a little after that (he has a nasty cough which has been keeping him up at night, and requiring that Mommy or Daddy hold him so that he can breathe to sleep. Needless to say, I've been tired lately.) So, last night I propped him up on the couch with pillows after he fell asleep, and left him until his coughing abated, then put him in his bed just before 9, and then, here's the kicker, I went to bed myself! I actually got a full night's sleep... and it's amazing the difference it has made!

I did the dishes... not just once, but after every meal, and cleaned the kitchen floor, picked up toys, ran errands (we had no bread, then I found the last few slices of the last loaf, and made some homemade croutons out of them) I had some whole wheat flour left over from when I'd made calzones, and so I made some whole-wheat tortillas (Poor Thomas hasn't really had anything to eat for his lunches lately, so has been eating out of cans) and then made my famous pork-fried rice for dinner! Fantastic! I also noticed that I didn't have any desire to just sit and watch TV, which happens when I'm too tired. I'm gonna try this sleeping thing more often!

These are just some random pictures of the boys playing, and coloring. They LOVE to color. Evan's kind of funny because you can see the struggle he undergoes: to color, or to put the crayon in his mouth. Eventually the mouth wins, and coloring time is over.

Our happy little monkey. We did eventually open the walker back up, and he likes to climb in and out of it.

Recipes, per request

French bread: This is actually Soeur Nadauld's recipe from my mission... time consuming, but yummy! This is her recipe, copied straight from the cute little deplion she made for us! :)

1 TBS yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 TBS sugar

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

1 TBS oil

1/2 cup warm water (add 1/2 c more if needed)

Mix and knead, let rise 10 minutes. Knead and let rise 10 minutes. Repeat 5 times, 10 minutes apart. Knead after 5 times and roll in 1 1/2 inch thick rolls 1 foot long and place on cookie sheet. Let rise 1 hour 15 minutes. Bake 450 for 15-20 minutes. Score with knife. Brush top with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds. (I didn't do the seed part...)

Egg noodles:

These are super easy. Mix an egg with as much flour as it will hold, and a bit of salt. Be careful not to add too much flour though, since that will make your dough flake and fall apart. My mom said it's about a cup per egg, but I've noticed its less than that. Just add the flour in slowly, mix as much as you can with the spoon, and finish it up with your hands. :) Roll it as thin as you can on a well-floured surface... make sure its well floured to prevent sticking. It also helps if the surface is cold. Cut your noodles to the desired size (I like shorter for the kids...). Cook in boiling water for about 8 minutes. You can let the noodles dry for a bit before cooking them too.

Snow

Just more snow pics from Christmas break with Mike's kids. Parker asked for days to build a snowman with them... and once there was enough snow, we did! You might notice that the lawn around the snowman looks a bit bare of snow... it is. Thomas shoveled it to get a pile of snow in which to dig a snow cave. Parker called it Daddy's dog house :) So, our lawn still doesn't have a lot of snow on it, which is why I ended up taking the boys to the park the other day. The playground equipment was clear, but Parker kept slipping in the snow that covered the ground. The swings still worked well though!

New Year's Eve

Notice the dip in his hair? That's my boy!


I know its a little late in coming... For New Year's Eve Thomas' brother and sister-in-law came over and we played their wii and ate veggies and dip, and Evan absolutely loved it! The boys also had fun just monkeying around. Our night ended early though... bed at 10 for everyone. :)

Youth Conference

A few weekends ago, our ward held a youth conference up in Sundance for the youth 12-18. They played games, and did a lot of outdoor activities.
Snowshoeing. Thomas also took some great outdoor pics.


And, Thomas' crowning glory. He loves to build snowcaves. He actually slept in it that night. The young men and the young men's president was so impressed, that they're planning an activity this weekend to build snowcaves for a campout. Thomas is creating quite the snowcave legacy!