3/20/13

Thomas Nelson review-The Great House of God


I really, really enjoyed this book. Comparing our relationship with God to a house that He has was a very concrete visual for me. I have always enjoyed Max Lucado books because in many ways he reminds me of C.S. Lewis. I appreciated many of his examples of how our Father loves us no matter what in His living room. The kitchen is a place where we can ask God to provide for us “just for today”. One of my favorite examples is how his daughter gave a pretzel to someone that had done something annoying to her dad, the author.
Overall, this book is one I would read over again. The concepts are clear and concise. I don’t agree with every single analogy that Lucado uses; that being said, I do think he makes marvelous comparisons in what we use every day (our house) and how we can use those ideas to improve our relationship with God.  There was a “pondering” guide in the back that I also found helpful to make me think about my own relationship and how it can improve. My favorite chapter was the one about the furnace and how God is there with us in the fires if we allow him to be.
In summary, beautiful book. 

3/18/13

More zoo and leprechauns

 We tried to plant grass in the egg shells to make cute little egg guys once the grass grows.... alas, no growth yet.

 One day for snack Spiderman and Optimus had green leprechaun popcorn.

 And yes, more visits to the zoo being the tiger.... too bad we can't roar or smile at the same time :)

We sure LOVE our zoo pass!

March zoo visit and making leprechauns

 March was the first time we went to the zoo this year NOT in complete snow gear. It was really nice. Collin still wanted to wear his boots. This was him being a tiger.

 Liam loves the crocodile these days.
 One morning we painted our own leprechauns to help the leprechauns on the boat have friends.

 At preschool one day this month, the "real" firefighters came to visit Collin's preschool. So that afternoon, the boys totally wanted to play firefighters. It was actually really cute. The backpacks were the oxygen masks.
 They would hang up their "masks" on different places in the kitchen and I would be the firebell.

 More zoo pics out of order.

 More painting out of order.
Our leprechaun friends.

3/14/13

Preparing for leprechauns

 We LOVE St. Patrick's Day at our house. We like to pretend we are Irish, and last year we had leprechauns visit us a LOT with our trap. This year, we learned the leprechauns weren't in America yet so we had to do some stuff to prepare....
 Like make leprechaun rainbow shamrock strings.
 Wear silly hats
 Put our rainbow charms on the ceiling fan
 play find the shamrock and gold games

 and go out for ice cream!

Soon the leprechaun trap will be set up and we hope to catch them this year!

ID Kelly visit and randomness

 We took a quick trip to ID for President's Day and to help celebrate my mom's birthday. We went up to BYU-Idaho and got to see Kelly. That was fun.
 Grandpa gave Liam his second official haircut.

 Playing train.
 One day Liam was obsessed with carrying these 3 things everywhere and thought he was so cool that he could.
 Playing in ID
 Due to a bald eagle show, the boys one afternoon played in the bald eagle "nest" the summer swimming pool that is far too little for them.... but somehow they both fit in there as eagles.

More Valentines 2013

 For Collin's preschool class, we made these, happy vday smartie pants, and there were smarties hidden in the pants. Collin did NOT want to give them away, until he learned he would get valentines in return.... silly boy. He was ECSTATIC with how much candy he got..."even better than Halloween!"
 Made this at the man store
 one night we had love floats after dinner.
 Stamping hearts for neighbor and the mail lady


 Valentines day breakfast.... chocolates! Again, ecstatic from Collin :)