Weekend Best

A sleeping snuggler is the best!

Homemade cascarones by Quincy are the best! 


Playing “there’s Jimmie” during General

Conference is the best! 


Sprouting greenhouse seedlings are the best! 


A fence to keep the chickens out is the best. 


Self entertaining is the best. 


Cello Buddies are the best! 


Lost Boys of Primrose Lane are the best! 


A homeschool field trip is the best! 

Team of the Year

This is for long days, for a lot of grey hairs (which are hot, by the way), for working every day of vacation, and for not being able to take a single day of paternity leave.  It's for a lot of things, actually.  You put up with a lot this last year (both at work and at home with a very very sick wife) and not only did you rise above adversity, you excelled and met your numbers. And at the end of each day, you came home and gave another 100% of yourself to your family. 

 

Category Team of the Year. 

I am not surprised at all. 

This award is well deserved. You give only your best to this company and we are happy to see your hard work recognized and appreciated.  Job well done, Aaron. I am so proud of you. 

Discovering Talents

Reese has discovered poetry and came up with this little gem this afternoon.
I know I'm her mom and all, so my opinion is biased, but it's her first poem.
...and it is sort of totally incredible.

Halloween Fun
by Reese Willardson

Halloween is time for fun.
We go trick or treating. 
To get more candy you can run
to all the houses that are waiting.

We dress up
like a cat
or a ghost 
or a bat. 

We go to a house.
Look out for the witch! 
We go home but guess what? 
Count our candy, we are rich!  


Um, yeah.  She is seven years old, folks.  Seven. 
I'm very impressed, and can't wait to read what she comes up with next.

Days 7 and 8 (sat and sun)

Over the next couple days:

-I saw the worst movie ever made (Battleship) with Mark, Melinda, Amy, Josh, and my mom.  The first part was funny, and then they lost me at the arrival of aliens and it all went downhill from there.  Take my advice, save your dollar and don't even redbox this one.   Everyone else seemed to really like the movie. Maybe it's just me?  I did enjoy teasing Amy and Melinda for seeing it 3 times.

 -Aaron arrived (yay!)

-Corbin made the cutest little father's day craft in nursery in my parent's ward.

-We made s'mores in Paul and HolleeAnn's backyard, heard every Chuck Norris joke there is and watched the kids perform a bunch of skits they learned at cub scout day camp.

-Had a BBQ and impromptu talent show at Mark and Melinda's house.
-We went back over to USA Sport to hang out, watch Taylor tumble (incredible), and so the kids could jump in the whale and show Aaron their new gymnastics skillz.
-Jordan went to Ceres, Garret left for DC and Taylor came home from EFY.

-Taylor taught Corbin the art of the cell phone self portrait

it took him a minute to figure it out, but he caught on...

-Lots of playtime with family and Coco.

-More Super Taq, In-N-Out, It'sIts were eaten. 

Beautiful Lengths

The day finally arrived.

Both girls finally met the minimum 8 inches of length to cut off for donation. 

Haircut day!

They felt pretty special and were pampered well at the beauty college.  Several students came and other patrons came to congratulate the girls on their generous decision to donate their hair.  Both stylists and one of the teachers took some pictures to pin on their before/after wall. 

 We chose Pantene Beautiful Lengths because they only require 8 inches (opposed to 10 or 12 like most other programs) and even though Reese had nearly 12 inches to donate, Quincy only had 8, and I so was not patient enough to wait out another 4 months for her to grow 2 more inches of hair.

 There is a Pantene Beautiful Lengths expo coming up in about a month at the John Q Hammon's center.  I saved the pony tails in bags for them to take to the expo to donate.  They'll get little goodie bags and get to see the finished wigs on display to show what happens to their hair after it is donated and how new hair can make someone look beautiful.

What really happens is that someone that feels like total crap from chemotherapy and then suffered the nightmare of losing their hair will receive the gift of knowing that someone out there wanted them to feel better and happy and did something totally selfless to help make that happen.  No matter how Pantene spins it, I think that's the real beauty of donated hair.  Feeling loved and giving love is what makes them all beautiful.

I wasn't totally impressed with the dude that ended up cutting Q's hair, and am certain I could have done a better job, in less time, than he did.  We didn't quite get what we were going for, style wise, but hey it was $7 and what he lacked in talent he made up for in praise and compliments toward my little girl.

After their haircuts, I let them have their nails painted (it's only $2 and they were sooo patient during the 1 1/2 hours (yes. really.) it took to have their hair cut and styled by the students.)
They wanted alternating red, white, and blue nails for Memorial Day. Quincy somehow ended up with all red nails with blue sparkles on them, except for her middle fingers, which were painted white.  Seriously, guy? I know it's only a $2 polish job, but come on. White middle fingers? Really?  He was really pleased with the results and I'm thinking this must have been his first time painting nails. Oh well, at least Quincy is happy, and her nails are just the right mix of patriotic and slightly offensive....totally her.

Look at my beautiful daughters.  Beautiful on the outside with pretty new haircuts, and beautiful inside for their big hearts.  After a year of growing your hair out, it isn't easy for most people to make such a great sacrifice and chop it all off, but they were excited and willing and did it happily. 
Reese said she hopes her hair goes to a little girl her same age and hopes "she feels that she is pretty when she gets her new wig." 
Quincy wants her hair to be "painted and dyed white and given to an old grandma 'cuz she has no hair left."
 
Way to go, Reese and Quincy!

True sign that summer is here

 

 Um....she did shower, last night, I promise.

Because it is Wednesday

I know I probably say this every Wednesday, but I really really love my job. Today was a lot of fun. I don't think I could ever grow tired of having a house full of preschoolers. They say the funniest things, stick to their guns about issues that are important to them, and they love unconditionally. I learn a lot from these kids.

Update:

The "special surprise" that Reese was doing in my room turned out to be pretty awesome! She and Quincy fell quiet after about 10 minutes, and I assumed they'd fallen asleep on my bed, but they actually made my bed, put all of the stray shoes away, and folded and put away over 3 loads of laundry! Best surprise a mom could ever get!

Great job, girls!

They were rewarded for selfless act of kindness with a spontaneous playdate with Bryn, and now all I hear are constant giggles, counting to 20, and the pounding feet of kids playing hide and seek.

"Well we can't all be reading the classics, Professor Highbrow"

Ok. What. the. heck.

THIS is everything that is wrong with America, and everything that is hillariously awesome about America all in one 6 minute video.

I can't stop watching.
HOW is this happening in our society? Other parents have lost custody of their children for exhibiting far less ridiculous behavior, and I bet none of them have ever said anything along the lines of, "My special juice is gonna make me winnnnnn!"

Go ahead. Watch it. You know you're dying to find out why "A dollah makes Alana holla, Honey Boo-Boo!"

I Can Eat Healthy Foods

Share: Bring Something to Taste with your friends
Books: Gregory The Terrible Eater By Mitchell Sharmatt, The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Eric Carle
Mixed Media: Reading Rainbow Gregory the Terrible Eater
Remember Reading Rainbow? I found this reading of Gregory the Terrible Eater and the children loved it!
http://vimeo.com/groups/wvpt/videos/6238843 (story begins at 2 min)

Dramatic Play: What’s Cookin’? Provide play food, chef hats, and dishes. Encourage the children to play restaurant together in the kitchen

Art:
Friendly Frogs: Cut Vegetable Paint Stamping
Busy Bees: What Color is your favorite food?

Fine Motor: Mr. Potato Head and Veggie Friend manipulatives

Fine Motor: Lacing Noodle Necklaces

Sensory: Feely Food Game
Place one or two different fruits or vegetables into a small brown lunch bag. Give each child a bag. Have children take turns reaching into their bag without looking inside and describe how the fruit or vegetable feels (soft, hard, rough, smooth, round, etc.). Encourage them first to guess what it is, and then take it from the bag to reveal what it is.
Science: Under the Magnifying Glass-how do the foods we eat everyday look up close?

Math: Cookie Bakery Pattern Match up

Language: Sign Language “Eat”
Practical Life: My body needs healthy foods to grow.
Music & Movement: There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly, I Like to Eat Eat Eat Apples and Bananas, Let's All Do the Tummy Tango
Goodbye Friends

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

1) Caramelize an onion: (ok THIS is the money maker. It makes all the difference in enchiladas. Or anything, really.)
1 1/2 TBS butter
1 small yellow onion (red works, too, but I always use yellow because we prefer the flavor)
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
squirt lemon juice

Melt butter in a small non-stick skillet over med-high heat and cook the onions, stirring until they just begin to brown, 3-4 minutes. Add vinegar; reduce heat to med-lo and continue cooking for 10 minutes, stirring to prevent scorching.

Add soy sauce and cook 5-10 minutes longer, stirring. When done, the onions should be quite limp and caramelized brown, (and delicious!).

2) peel a large sweet potato and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

3) saute potato in 1TBS olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously so the edges don't get too brown or stick to the pan. Then reduce the meat to med-low and cover the pan for a few minutes so the potatoes are soft (no one wants a hard, crunchy potato in their enchilada!)

4) cube about 4oz cream cheese (I made no claims that this recipe was healthy!) and add to potatoes.

5) drain and rinse 1 can black beans, add to potatoes

6) add 1 small can diced green chilies.
stir on low heat until mixture is warm and the cream cheese is saucy.

7) fill flour tortillas with bean/potato filling, top with a pile of caramelized onions, and a small sprinkle (1/2 -1oz, maybe?) of shredded cheese (I used med cheddar last time, but would have used pepper jack if we'd had any) I filled 12 small tortillas with this recipe. Roll tortillas and place in a row in a baking dish.

8) Pour 1 can red (med heat) enchilada sauce over the top of the rolled enchiladas.

9) Bake until tortilla edges are slightly crispy and garnish with a row of shredded cheese and chopped cilantro down the center of the pan.

10) Brace yourself for compliments. Yes. They're that good.

Putting other kids to shame since 2004

Yoga seems to be all the rage again. But you're only "cool" now if you're doing "hot yoga".
Do not be confused.
"hot" yoga does not necessarily = hot people.
"hot"or "bikram" yoga = sweaty and super stinky people.
...right. cuz "yoga people" weren't already stinky enough.

Anyway, I keep finding my kids in yoga positions. For no reason at all.

So I took some pictures to document it. Because it seems to be a fad around here, so the irony that their funny kid thing fad is an actual fad is just funny to me.

Oh, and to all the "experts" out there, be aware that the kids are both sweaty AND stinky, so you know...this is totally legit. The real deal ;)
Here we have the classic sibling "downward dog". Totally normal.Leading today's spontaneous yoga sesh is....wait.... Aaron?

Well, yes. Yes it is. What the crap happens in my kitchen when I am not supervising?!

It's weird, right?

Moving on, let's address the other fad I'm seeing everywhere: Planking.
Our children don't know it yet, but they're super cool. They effortlessly mastered the downward dog, so now, they've progressed to the the latest hip thing.
Behold, a few more candid shots of the Willys kid doing what they do best, being totally awesome.

I call this one "wheel barrow racing with furniture gets you nowhere."

And here, we have the classic "suspended between two furniture pieces, even though there is no way it is humanly possible for it to be more comfortable than sitting on just one of them" plank.

And the grande finale, the "hot lava plank".
Did you play "hot lava" when you were growing up? Where you couldn't touch the floor because it was lava and would "burn" you? If the answer to that one is "no", then you didn't have a childhood. I can only assume that the messy floor is what inspired the hot lava version of this game in the first place.

My kids are way more hip than I am.
Uh...Namaste?

"Stuffed to the Muff"

It's ok. You don't have to understand the title. It's a Lawrence family joke.

I have been craving hot, fresh, tiny donuts since I read a friend's blog post about an apple farm that served apple cider mini donuts. I had to have some.

Fortunately, it was craft fair weekend in NWA.
Unfortunately, the tiny donut booth didn't come to the fair this year.
Naturally, we were devastated.

Suffering the painful sting that occurs when cravings meet disappointment, Quincy, Corbin and I sought out an alternative deep fried sugary goodness. We would get our fix, and would not stop until our cravings were satisfied, we ran out of money, or one of us went into cardiac arrest.

What the WHAT?

Deep fried PB&J?!
I love it here.
We sat in the shade with a group of ladies down for a weekend from Maine. They were in love with Corbin and asked if they could keep him. He hammed it up and they shared their deep fried tomatoes and "Spud Dogs" with him.

"What is a spud dog?" You ask?

Well, I shall tell you! Put a foot long hot dog on a stick. Then send a couple potatoes through one of those apple peeler corer things. Thread the potatoes on the stick so they spiral around the hot dog.
Deep fry the crap out of it.
Smother it in chili and nacho cheese.
A Spud Dog is born! Winning!

Other goodies that can be found at the Spanker (heheh. "spanker") Creek Craft Fair are:

-baklava
-crepes with everything on them
-Monte Cristos: a sandwich with Crisco, ham, cheese, spicy pickles, and jam that has been battered, deep fried-obviously- and dusted with powdered sugar.
-funnel cakes
-every flavor imaginable of fresh squeezed lemonade including chocolate, blueberry, watermelon, and hot pepper.
-Deep Fried Everything, from french fries and onion rings to pickles to snickers bars and Twinkies. The kid in front of us in line tried to order "deep fried butter". Is that a thing? Why not just order the whole Fry Daddy and drink the grease?
-Deep Fried Coke: Coco-Cola batter that is deep fried (act surprised, y'all) dusted with powdered sugar, and dipped in a carmely dipping sauce made with coke and browned butter.
-Chocolate dipped fried cheesecake on a stick

Did you have a heart attack just reading that? Those are the goodies that are available at THREE BOOTHS. Yup. There are half a dozen more to choose from.

We ate "funny cake" as Q calls it



Downed not one, but two fresh squeezed lemonades. Locals: does anyone subscribe to the Daily Record? A reporter took some pics of the kids sharing a lemonade, took our names and told us to check tomorrow for a photo.

Pounded a foot long deep fried corn dog.And got a giant bag of sweet and salty kettle corn. Yum.

We walked around and checked out a few of the booths, but then I decided to be realistic. We were there for the food, not the crafts.

The kids danced while these guys played Circle Be Unbroken and Wabash Cannonball. I sat and listened, then had a shocking realization.I actually KNEW these SONGS. That can't be right.

WHAT exactly did they put IN that "funny cake" batter, anyway?! Ahhh!
We headed over to the antique motor display. It was actually really cool. Corbin especially loved throwing corn into the old grain mill. Quincy named her rubber duckie, "Van", and is now calling our minivan, "Duckie". She is in such a silly phase right now. Everything that comes out of her mouth makes us laugh. (see next post)

We picked up a 5lb basket of Arkansas Black apples on the way out.
See? We eat healthy stuff too.
know what's cool about the Arkansas black apple? You can store it in your crisper for 6 months.
It actually does turn black. Gross?
I don't know, we've never kept them long enough for them to turn black...I'll get back to you on that one!
Stuffed to the Muff?
Yeah.

Mission Completed.