I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

The kids are so glad to finally have their Daddy home from Illinois for good. They like to spend evenings having "family fun time" which consists of the following routine:


Chris lays on the floor while the kids give him a back massage (ie. pound on his back). Next, they all pile on top of Chris and try to hold him down while he gets up, it never works.:)

Then, they each get horsey rides and "flying" lessons. They love to stand on his hands while he lifts them into the air. And if he's not too tired afterward, he lets them do flips over his arm.

We often joke that this will have to be Jared's last time, but Chris always manages to get him up. Another important part of "family fun time" is that Mom is on the couch watching from a safe distance. Hey, what's fun for some, is dangerous to others. Usually by the time this routine is done, the wiggles are out and the kids are ready to read scriptures, say prayer and go to bed. Well, that's all there is to the Mattson family bedtime routine.

I can read with my eyes shut. That is very hard to do! - Dr. Suess

Almost as hard, is reading when you are four and two. But, that doesn't stop Krystal and Amber. We keep finding them like this; all cozied up, "reading" together.

Funny thing is, both of the books they are reading are books about money and finances by Dave Ramsey. Do you think it's just the pictures they're interesting in, or are they as worried about the economy as the rest of us?

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - Dr. Suess

Monday, Funday

It's been a great day! The kids all got their morning duties and schoolwork done so when Amber went down for her nap, we decided to do a craft. We are studying the American Revolution right now for History, so we set out to make an American flag. First we cut out pieces from magazines that were red, white and blue. Next we glued them onto paper, collage-style. Then we measured and cut out strips of red and white and a blue square and glued those onto a large paper. Finally, the kids, put on silver stars, being very careful to make them match the flag. With my creative juices flowing, I decided to make tortilla/cream cheese/sugar sprinkle stars for snack. They were a hit.

Two funny things the kids said today:
1) Amber was mad that Krystal had her baby, so she ran off and found another baby. She came back cradling the baby and sat next to her sister. Next thing I know, Amber hit Krystal on the head with the baby and without skipping a beat, pulls the baby back down, looks straight into it's eyes and says, "No, baby!" in her very stern Mommy voice. We all laughed so hard that Krystal forgot to cry about being hit.
2) Jared is writing a report about whales and had me look it over to be proofread. I told him that he still needed a concluding sentence. He asked to be reminded what a concluding sentence is again and I told him that it summarizes what's been said and puts an end to the report. Then he says, "Oh, like closing exercises in Primary?!" Again, I got a good laugh, and told him, "Exactly, like closing exercises in Primary."

Sounds weird, tastes great!

Burritos was on the menu tonight, but after cooking up a pound of ground beef, I realized that these burritos weren't going to 'beefy' enough. My choices were, thaw another pound of ground beef or look for leftovers in the fridge that I could add to the ground beef. Most people know that I love making "creations" for dinner so I went with choice #2. I found about 4-5 slices of bacon (which I cut into bite size pieces), some leftover veggies (green beans, carrots, and yellow squash), and a jar of canned salsa. I only had 1/2 a package of taco seasoning, but with the bacon to add flavor, it was plenty. Cooked it all up together (not the whole jar of salsa, just about 1/2 cup), added some shredded cheese and sour cream to the mix and it made some very tasty burritos. And the best part - Amber ate the veggies without giving them a second thought.

A week in the life of The Mattson Family

Because nothing special happened this week and because I use this blog to record our family history and because I don't want our lives to become a blur of laundry, math worksheets, and putting pigtails in hair:
Sunday - we went to church, the kids started new classes for the new year, and I bore my testimony. Later Chris left for Illinois, I cleaned the kitchen and had a YW Presidency meeting at my house.
Monday - I exercized and cleaned the school room. The Hales came over for preschool (for Delaney and Krystal, but the others like to join in on some of the fun - like making silly faces on toast). I had my first accupuncture appt. Spent the rest of the afternoon making new alphabet sound flash cards. We had Chili for dinner. We watched The Secret of Nimh. I slept for 6 hours without waking up once! then went back to sleep for the rest of the night.
Tuesday - I exercized, Jared and Clarissa had piano lessons, I took Krystal and Amber to the library for storytime. We did school. I did several loads of laundry and made cookies. The Buchinskys came over for dinner, we had dirty rice. I started reading 1776 by David McCullough.
Wednesday - I exercized, we did school, made walrus puppets, Jared wrote a report about walruses. We had peanut butter noodles for dinner. I had Young Women's and Jared had Cub Scouts.
Thursday - It snowed! I slept in. The Coiners and the Hales came over to go sledding. I went to another chiropractor/accupuncture appt. We did history with the Hales. We had dinner over at the Buchinsky's.
Friday - I walked 2 miles in the AM. I went visiting teaching at 11am. We did school, we finished reading "Ben and Me" and put Benjamin Franklin on the timeline. I took a 20 min. nap. We went bike riding in Pulaski with the Hales. I pushed the girls in the double stroller and walked 3 more miles. I made Pizza for dinner, then we watched a movie about Mary Ingles Draper.
Saturday - I planned my lesson for church. We went to the store for a few things. I wrapped gifts and prepared food for a reception. Clarissa went to a birthday party, the rest of us went to the wedding reception. We took some pictures afterwards because Amber was wearing the new outfit she got for Christmas. We're having chicken strips and veggies for dinner.

Of course I can't begin to include the many books we've read, all the times we talked to Chris on the phone, how many times I've wiped off the kitchen table, broken up fights or changed Amber's diapers. I can say that I have managed to keep the kitchen, living room and school room clean the whole week and make my bed every day (a huge accomplishment for me).

It's been a good first week of the year. I hope that we can keep it up, but...if not, we'll just do our best.

Now...time to go plan next week!

Lazy Sun

So, New Year's Eve was fun. We began the evening watching Prince Caspian and the girls dropped off to sleep one by one. Jared stayed awake and played Monopoly with Chris and I while we listened to oldies on the radio and ate junk food. I know, in the words of my Chiropractor, "Nobody plays Monopoly anymore." We're just old-fashioned like that. We went to sleep around 1:30 and at 9am when Chris came in to wake me up I said, "I want to paint the house." You see, we've been in the house for over a year and the walls are still all white. Anyone who knows me, knows that I like color. That combined with the fact that Chris was going to be off work for the following three days meant that we just had to paint. So off we went to Lowe's to pick a paint color. This is the part where Chris becomes a genius. He has been listening to me complain about the cold and the lack of sun outside - so he has this bright idea to bring the sun inside. The color we pick - Lazy Sun. Our living room before, with all the furniture pushed to the center of the room.

We started in the hallway, which was scary because the color looks almost orange with the dim hallway lights. But the living room is a different story -

Voila! We love it! We love how it warms the room, brings all our decor together and is so clean looking.

We even painted the entry to the bathroom, aka. Diesel's room, a bright green and we love that too. Thanks to the kids for letting me have their Dad for two days and to Chris for finishing up when I ran out of steam.

We deserve Spring in January

Saturday, January 3rd was a beautiful day. After two days of being in the house painting and weeks of cold, cold weather - we couldn't help but get outside and go hiking. We drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway to try out this 3.1 mile hike. We brought the backpack carrier for Amber, but she preferred to hike by herself. Krystal, on the other hand, would have gladly spent the whole time in the carrier. Chris (who was helping her along) nicknamed her mustard because they were always having to ketchup. Yes, he thinks he's pretty funny.

We had to pause for a photo when we found one of those really cool barren trees that are always alone at the top of grassy knolls.

This was the view. Jared took this picture. His comment was, "I think I can see Utah." We had to explain that we were facing South East and that chances were quite slim that he could see Utah. It was fun, it was beautiful, but most of all we enjoyed being together as a family before Chris had to head back to Illinois.

What do a guitar, a ferris wheel, and WALL-E have in common?

Jared's latest creations! Who needs Guitar Hero when you have a guitar and microphone made from K'nex?

This ferris wheel actually turns by motor.

It's difficult to see in the picture, but WALL-E actually has a hatch that opens to let out the garbage and is carrying his lunch box on his back. Jared says, "Now all he needs is an IPOD to play music." And we're like, "It wasn't an IPOD Jared and if that's your way of trying to get one, nice try, but no."