ABC's

So Michael has seen me tutoring his entire life. When we got old enough 1 1/2 years old, he was constantly trying to sit in the tutoring chair and have me "tutor" him. When he turned 3 I decided I had better get to it and "tutor" Michael. So I set aside time about 4 days a week (usually, there are exceptions) that Michael get's to do tutoring. He has the rules memorized from tutoring other students. So he sits down and recites the rules (he is hallarious!). I decided that I would work with Michael on identifying the letters. So I introduce the letter, do a letter hunt around the house, color some pictures, use our cutting skills and learn shapes as we create a project that begins with that letter, and lastly to finish it off, Michael gets to help create an upper and lower case letter to put on our wall. We are currently working on the letter F. It has been a fun time for Michael to get some one on one with me, and to enjoy the learning process together. I just recently added his "writers notebook" to our tutoring. There he "writes" and draws a picture, and then I write the story down too. :) He is just such a blast, and loves everyone minute of it. When it is time to start he says "It's time to tutor ME?!"

The Elephant Michael made on the letter E

Rowley Family Mission Statment

The end result... a Rowley Family Mission statment. Kent and I sat down and talked about the things we want to focus on and have in our family mission statement. Then it was my job to write it up. I did and have had it hanging in the kitchen, when I would pass it I would make changes here and there. In the end I realized that I used too many words and could say the same thing simpler. I am very happy how it turned out. We may end up changing it here and there as the kids grow. But for now I like it. It will be a good guide for Kent and I in determining what activities, etc. we are going to participate in, and what direction we will steer our family in. So if you were wondering here it is.

"As a family we will strive daily to cultivate LOVE to make our home a haven.

We will do this by...

*Serving GOD first in all we do

*Nurturing FAMILY relationships

*Being lifelong LEARNERS

*Developing HEALTHY habits

As we do these we will remember to ENJOY life."

I decided to bold the important words, so at a glance we can be reminded of it. Kent and I also decided that we will set one goal that we can work on that falls under a category. We like to keep it simple and obtainable. So anyways, there it is. :)

Portland Temple

On our way to the Brown reunion we had to drive through Portland. So of course we had to stop and visit the temple. Even though by stopping it made us late to the reunion and poor Kent and Jeff and to set up the tent in the dark, it was very much worth it! It was such a wonderful experience to take our children to the temple grounds to teach them some basic gospel principles and to show them where our eternal family was created. What a blessing to have temples! The blessing that come from them are many, but at this time we are focused on teaching our children about the blessing of eternal families. That because Kent and I were sealed in the temple, us and all our children will be able to live together in heaven as an eternal family. I wish we could take the kids more often to the Portland temple, but we are blessed to have the Seattle temple very close that we can do Family Home Evenings with the kids there. Enjoy the pictures of our family at the temple where we became an Eternal Family. (Michael's favorite part was seeing Moroni on the top of the temple, at every angle he would ask where Moroni was.)

Brown Reunion

I have to say that I was very worried about camping with little ones. I had not had good experiences in the past. I was afraid that they would cry all night (because of the new environment) and keep everyone camping near us awake. But actually the days were so packed and they were up much later than normal that when it came to bed time, all I had to do was leave and my wonderful husband had them sound asleep by the time I got back. :) They even slept in much later than normal as well. Michael loved camping, except for the bugs. He even commented to me that he could hear the mosquitoes talking (you know the buzzing noise they make when there are a lot in one place). Our tent was a lot bigger than I remembered it too. There was room for the playpen, 2 queen mattresses, and still room for luggage and walking room, plus an "entry way". Michael got one queen sized mattress all to himself! It was cute to see such a small boy on such a big bed!

We got to enjoy the water while camping. Michael loved the water so much! He practically spent the entire day in it, although he was shivering from the cold of the water. In the end he and daddy got good sunburns even thought they had sunblock on (I need to remember to reapply!)

It was so good to see family and catch up. Michael enjoyed getting to know his Uncle Jeff (which he called Uncle Rob for most of the time, it doesn't help that he has 2 Uncle Jeff's) and Auntie Ricia. And of course he LOVED their dog D-O-G (I know they have a fancy way to spell it, but I can't remember). And playing with his cousins was wonderful too. It was so good for us all to reconnect.


Michael on his queen sized mattress

My niece and her baby, I can't believe I am a great aunt!

Emma LOVING her Auntie Ricia

Daddy and Michael swimming

Michael and uncle Jeff playing with D-O-G

Fair Fun

So the kids and I went to the county fair in town (too bad Kent had to work) but we had fun. We saw the animals, (even watched them spin yarn cut off of the sheep!), saw the tractors, and Michael got to go down the big slide with his cousins, and much more. It was a fun day.

Bum Blankets

So with learning this cloth diapering thing I have had to try different techniques and such to find what works for me. One thing I was trying to figure out was the wipes. I tried to have dry wipes that I sprayed water on... but that didn't clean as well as I liked. So then I switched to a tub of wipes in wet water (just a little tea tree oil to keep it from molding). But the wipes I had were very well used and for me didn't have the softness I wanted. So I decided to make my own. I used flannel on one side and Minky (the very soft baby blanket stuff) on the other side. I made a few and loved how soft they were, they really were just mini blankets, so I thought it would be fun to call them "Bum Blankets" you know blankets for the bum. :) I tried them, and they worked wonderfully. The minky had the grab power to get the job done and yet was so soft and gentle on Emma's delicate skin. Anyone considering or doing cloth diapering I recommend making some of these. I don't mind spending a little more to make these wipes since I know I will use them many times over (and hopefully for many more children), plus I can make them the size I like.

Beauty All Around

I love this time of the year. The garden is growing as we excitedly count the number of tomatoes and carrots coming. The roses (planted by the previous owner) are so lovely to look at blossoming all around me. And then I look within my home and find a beautiful little girl blossoming and growing right before my very eyes! I am so blessed to have such beauty all around me!

Family Mission Statement

So I have been enjoying reading the Simple Mom blog (found in my list of sites I like to visit). And her new assignment was to create a family mission statement. I have been meaning to do this and by having the "assignment" it gave me the motivation to get it done. So Kent and I had a good time sitting down and going through our priorities and goals that we wanted to set for our family. I figure doing it while the kids were young, would set the precedence so we can teach it to them now and use it as a tool down the road to help us as a family make decisions. So we are nearing the end of it, I just like to sit on it and see if any more changes come to me. When it is done I'll share it. But I was wondering do you have a Family Mission statement? How has it helped your family? Any suggestions about writing one?

Our Fourth of July Celebrations

The fourth was fun. We celebrated by attending our small town parade, that my niece and many others we knew were in. We saw trackers, big rigs, lamas, etc. I think the coolest was the Spanish music with the horses actually dancing! It was fun. Then we went to the kid festivities which was all sponsored by local business so the kids could do everything for free and on some games they would win a small toy for trying. Michael did the dunk tank, and actually got really close and the guy held him up so he could push the button to dunk the poor lady. On another ball toss he actually got the ball through the hole (good for a 3 year old, I'm thinking baseball in his future!). He got to climb all around the fire truck, make crafts, go in the bounce house, and down a big slide (we almost lost his shoes because he took them off without us knowing being so anxious to go on the slide!)

That evening we went to my sister-in-law's home and watched many fireworks from all around us (being near an Indian tribe, there are a lot of illegal fireworks and they don't do much to stop in since everyone has them) One street up from my in-laws they pull their money and buy $10,000 worth of fireworks every year, we also got to see a great show from the neighbors behind them, and of course they bought some as well. It was so much fun, but went a little late. We didn't get the kids to bed until midnight, and we had 9am church the next morning.

So the pictures wont let me move them around so they are in reverse order, sorry.

Michael throwing a ball to dunk the lady

The tractor in our farm town parade

Michael enjoying the parade from daddy's shoulders


Lama in the parade, they would let the kids pet them.

Michael and Emma enjoying the parade from the stroller.

Talented People

So usually with the Internet I get on, do what I have to, and get off. If I am in the office too long a child finds me and the office becomes a mess. But one day I checked out websites and found the most talented people! I put some buttons on the side of my blog so others could look if they wanted. But to make a long story short, I found these wonderful women who have very great ideas and share them with everyone! I am in the process of making many simple easy crafts that I love, but would have never taken the time to figure out on my own. The one that I finished was so easy and looks so nice. You take a picture frame, hot glue nice fabric to the mat, and then put it behind glass and use it as your white board. Gets ride of the ugly/messy looking white board, yet still lets you write messages etc. I made two in 30 min. One is for Michael's chores check off list, and the other is for me to make my to do list, shopping list, and write messages to Kent that are not important enough for me to call him at work for, but I know I will forget to tell him when he gets home. I am loving them and how nice they look! I found them on the web site "Make it and Love it."

My First Wool Soaker!

So in the switch to cloth diapers, Emma developed a bad diaper rash. I am a believer in finding out the cause of the problem and not just fixing it with medicine before I know why it is happening and therefore getting stuck always using medicine instead of just fixing what was causing it. So in my hunt to figure it out (laundry detergent I use to wash the diapers? what I was feeding her? the solution mix I was using for her wipes? etc.) In my hunt my sister in law recommended using wool covers because they let the bum breath when the wetness is near their skin because of the cloth diapers. So my sister in law taught me how to knit one. (In the process she also made one for me. Thanks so much!) So I have been using her wool cover and the rash disappeared and all is solved! I finally finished knitting my first one and it looks SO ADORABLE! of course I am bias, but hey I get to be. :) I can't wait to knit some more in different colors and with little changes here and there that I think will help. I'm just excited about getting to add it to my diaper pile to use.