Noah's Ark Lesson & Art Project!

Growing up we had a Family Home Evening book/journal of all our lessons or activities that we had done. Sometimes it was a picture from the lesson or something that we colored, many years later it was fun to reflect on the lessons we had and the things we learned. I guess this blog is about like that book, except it has photos, video clips, and journal entries for each FHE activity we do. I think it will be fun to look back and remember our FHE nights but also there might be someone who needs an idea for their family home evening!

Last night we had a lesson on Noah. I showed different pictures of Noah and because Ty is familiar with this story he was able to help tell the story. We have a Fisher Price Noah's ark and I used it to help with the lesson. I secretly hid all the animals around the room and when we started talking about Noah gathering the animals to put in the boat Ty and Mara went around the room and found all the animals. After we finished telling Noah's story I likened this to listening to the prophets and how important it is to listen to the prophets. I showed the kids the picture of the First Presidency and we talked about the upcoming General Conference when we have the opportunity to listen to the prophets and leaders of our church. I encouraged our family to not be like the people of Noah's time who drowned in the water because they would not listen, but to come with open ears and hearts as we listen to the messages on Saturday and Sunday.

To close our activity we all painted pictures of rainbows. It's amazing to see each person's creativity and ability and how person has a different idea of how to paint a picture. Mara obviously was only interested in getting paint on her paper. Ty kind of got the idea of painting a rainbow but added a blue monster as well! Nate is my perfectionist husband and really got into his piece of work! He said, "I haven't painted like this for a long time, this is a lot of fun." He really is a true artist. By the time he was through I had the kids bathed and dressed for bed!! But I must say his painting was incredible, what a creative guy!

Berry Fun Weekend!

What a great weekend! The weather was perfect, the activities were great! Friday morning started out with a long walk to the 'choo choo train park' (the name we like to call it) clear over on third street! We went with my friend Ivy and her three kids: Taylor, Shay, and Maren. It was quite a walk for the little kiddos, but they had just as much fun seeing everything along the walk as they did playing at the park!
Saturday was a gorgeous day for a hike. We went south to Walen Island state park and hiked a loop around this island. The trail went along an estuary--where the coastal water has rivers/streams running into it. We saw neat shells, tiny crabs, and tiny holes all over the sand from little creatures! Ty collected rocks along the hike and carried them until he found a tiny pool of water in the middle of the estuary and threw the rocks in the water! Mara enjoyed a little hike in her backpack with her daddy but when she saw all the fun Ty was having collecting shells and other treasures she too wanted to explore! The hike continued along a path through a fern and everygreen forest and was covered with huckleberry bushes. Our kids love berries!! We picked a few but if you didn't pick the biggest or ripest they were 'spicy' as Ty liked to call them!
We finished our day adventure picking blackberries near Nate's work. Bushes and bushes of wild blackberries were everywhere. We were excited and fully prepared to pick three buckets worth, but a lot of the berries had already turned moldy so we had to be selective! Ty was so excited to pick blackberries, but he kept getting distracted and by the time he was through he only had a dozen or so blackberries in his little bucket! Mara ate out of the buckets as fast as we could pick so we ended up with not quite one bucket! Oh well, we made some mighty tasty blackberry ice-cream and blackberry cobbler tonight for dinner!

The New Yard

Dreams do come true! Ever since I married Nate I've dreamed about having a beautiful landscaped yard done by a professional landscape architect! After all isn't that what my prince charming graduated in Landscape Architecture?! Well nearly seven years of waiting paid off because the past couple weeks we've been working nonstop, day (and even night) on our new landscaped yard! Although it was hard manual labor and took a lot of time and even $$$, we are very happy and pleased with how it turned out!

The Back Yard:
We wanted a pathway to our woodshed so we wouldn't get muddy wet shoes in the winter carrying in firewood. We took out all the grass and put down cement pavers. We planted shrubs and a clematis to climb up the shed. On the other side we made another planter and transplanted our Bleeding Heart bush and added a few more perennials. It looks a little shabby at the moment, but hopefully next spring we wave beautiful bleeding heart bushes with white ground cover beneath!

Erica's Experimental Garden:
This little area was beyond Nate's ability!! My friend had given me a few starts from her yard including bamboo, fountain grass, and a lilly. I wasn't ready at the time for them so I just stuck them there until I was ready. We tore out all the grass and made it into a flower bed. I added a few perennials and I'd like to add a few mums for the fall and bulbs for the spring! It's a work in progress, Nate said "it was E's area to do whatever she wanted!"

The Front Yard:
In the front our neighbors had an old garbage can holder made out of 2x4's. It hasn't been used for years, but it just sits there. So Nate called the landlord and asked if we could take it to the dump. He said that would be fine. So in one of the pictures you'll see Nate going at it with his ax! We tore out all the grass from the sidewalk up to the fence. Although it looks like it belongs on our yard this strip is actually on the neighbors boundary. The landlord didn't mind and it makes sense to have it in our yard. We raised up the bed and planted trees, shrubs, and other plants.
In the front planters we took out all the weeds and previous bushes and planted shrubbery and a Japanese Maple.

The Walkway:
I love how this area turned out! Nate--you are a genius! The pathway up to the house was too narrow, so before we had planted flowers but they overgrew into the walkway. Nate decided to widen the pathway by laying down bricks. He dug out the dirt and added rocks and sand and then put the bricks in place.

We are very grateful to our friends the Christensen's for letting us borrow their truck and for the Thomas's Dairy Farm for all the cow manure they gave us! It was nice to have such sunny and beautiful weather to work in. I'm glad we could finish before the rainy weather arrives! It was a lot of fun for the kids to play outside and their favorite part was finding all sorts of bugs, worms, caterpillars, and other creepy crawlies! Ty and Mara were such troopers as we worked and even helped out where they could!

Arts & Crafts Day!

I am always in search of new and exciting adventures and fun things to do with the kids! My friend told me of a free program in Bay City at the Bay City Arts Center every Monday mornings. It is a program for children ages 1-4 and their moms to do some sort of art or craft activity. I thought it sounded like a great idea so the kids and I went today to check it out! It was pretty fun, there were ten other moms with their kids. We started the morning with some songs and activities. I was pretty impressed with Ty--he was the oldest one there and he showed the other kids how to do the hokey-pokey and head-shoulders-knees-and toes!! For the activity we finger painted with colored pudding! It was not only fun but tasty too!! Ty and Mara were a little hesitant at first getting their hands 'dirty'!! But they had a good time. The Art Center is across the street from the park so we had a fun time with friends at the park after the finger painting project. What a great day!

Football & Frogs!

Friday night we supported our local Tillamook High school and enjoyed a great football game. Believe it or not this was Mara's first football game! Both Ty and Mara LOVED cheering on the Cheesemakers with a victory of 35-21! It was so fun to hear Ty say "Go Cheesemakers go!" And Mara clapped and cheered "Yay!" every time the crowd cheered--even if it was for the other team! We have two young men in our ward who play on the team and Ty thought it was pretty cool to watch Grant & George and see them at church today passing and blessing the sacrament! I don't know what the kids enjoyed more, watching football with their daddy or eating popcorn with their mama! It was a really fun night and we can't wait for the next home game to watch the Cheesmakers play again!

(Our future varsity football player in the making!!)

On Saturday Nate was pruning the bushes and he felt something jump and cling to his arm! He pulled his arm from the bush and a good size tree frog had clung on to his arm! He was so excited to show Ty he ran in the house, but Ty had already fallen asleep and was down for his nap. So he showed me, and just as he did the frog jumped out of his hands and started jumping around the kitchen! Yikes! So Nate saved the little creature in a glass jar until his buddy woke up and he could show him! Both Ty and Mara loved that little frog! They had so much fun holding it and watching it jump around. Ty named the little frog 'Bushy' because it lives in the bushes! I thought for sure we would be keeping the little guy as a pet, but instead he was let go in the bushes and we can hear him croaking in our backyard.

Football

Our day today: told by Ty & Mara

Today I went to the doctor for my 2 year check up. I got on the big girl scale and ta-da: I weigh 23 lbs and 6 oz!! I stood up nice and tall on the chart and I'm 33 inches tall! I really liked my new doctor today, Dr. Herdman, she is very nice and let me play with toys while she talked to mama. The doctor was pleased that I am growing and said I was in the 10th % for weight--she said I must be 'chowing down' because I've come up from the 3%!! I am in the 50% for height and get this: 90% for head circumference! I must have a big head because I'm so smart! The doctor asked me to stack blocks which was really fun and so easy. Then she asked me to find pictures on a paper, I could do that too. It was a good day at the doctor except for the one shot I had to get--oooh yuck! I started to cry for just a second but my doctor distracted me with a pinwheel, it was really cool. Then she let me pick out a sticker. I chose a monster truck because that's the one Ty always chooses. The doctor let me take two and share one with Ty! I am one healthy little girl--excpet for my runny nose but I am feeling better so I can't complain!
Bye-Bye! --Mara

Today I went to pre-school. I missed it on Tuesday because I was sick. I told my mama that I didn't want to go, but then I told her that pre-school is fun and always makes me laugh. We worked on the number 3 today. I painted glue on a big #3 and then sprinkled sand over the glue and glued on little starfish and shells. It turned out so cool. I also colored a picture of Noah and I practiced tracing. I am good at tracing. For snack I had carrots, apples, and celery. I took two bites of my celery but didn't like it!! I met a new friend today, his name is Tanner, he's my new buddy. I have three buddies now: Daddy, Kase, and Tanner. We had puppet time and the dog puppet and squirrel puppet told us a story. I got a sticker on my chart today for being a good listener on the rug. My teachers got frustrated today, not at me, at another little boy--he was being naughty. I was a good boy though. I get to go to pre-school tomorrow because I missed it on Tuesday. I am excited for show-and-tell, I'm going to take my carnitour dinosaur because it's my favorite.
Later-gater! Ty

Funny and not so funny moments this week:

This week I've had two sick little children, so I've been playing Dr. Mom. Ty and Mara have both had colds, but they are both affected differently. Ty has such bad asthma when he gets a cold and Mara gets a really bad runny nose but no asthma. We've had beautiful weather and it's been so tempting to just take sick kids to play out in the sunshine but instead we've been resting, drinking fluids, and using a breathing machine! But amid the sickness we've had a few funny and well, not so funny experiences the past few days:

Our ward conference was on Sunday. Nate stayed home with sick little buddy, but Mara and I went to the meeting. As I sat there and listened to the names being read for sustaining I all of a sudden heard "Nathaniel Daniel Lewis as Executive Secretary!" At first I was a little shocked and surprised to hear that name come from the pulpit then all I could do was laugh!! Nate hates hearing Nathaniel Daniel---especially over the pulpit! When I told him what had happened he said, "That's it! I'm officially changing my name!"

Mara and daddy were laying down for a nap on Sunday but Mara was a little restless and couldn't fall to sleep. Daddy was almost out when all of a sudden Mara pulls the blankets over their head and says, "Hide Daddy!"

Yesterday Ty was in the bathroom with the door closed when I heard a 'clink, clunk' and knew it was something bad. I ran in and with a scared look on Ty's face he said, "Please don't be mad mama, it was a 'bistake'" WHAT DID YOU DO? I was fuming mad, but remained calm-- Ty created a hole in our bathroom wall by hanging or pulling on the towel holder. I was quite proud of myself for staying as calm as I did, but Ty could tell I was mad. He said, "Please don't tell daddy, hurry and fix it before daddy gets home!" Then he said, "Mama, no one likes a frowny face, change it for a smile!" Like I said in a previous blog: home repair--it never ends!
Mara climbed up in her high chair at lunchtime. As I was making her lunch I turn around to find her high chair had moved from the spot it was at clear over by the stove. How did this happen? She learned how to rock and roll in the high chair and because it has wheels she can get around rocking back and forth! I think it's time to put on the brakes!

Today we were eating Popsicles--the kind with jokes on the sticks. Try telling a four year old a joke sometime--it's funnier to hear what they have to say than the actual joke! The joke said something like 'Why wasn't the lightbulb a good student at school?' Ty said, "Well what school did the lightbulb go to? The answer was 'Because he wasn't very bright!' and Ty said, "Yes it was Mama, all light bulbs are bright!'

A lady in our ward knitted a little pink hat for Mara. She found her hat and put it over her head and started running around the house with it over her face. Ty ran into find me and said, "Look mama--Mara looks like spiderman!"

Surprise!! Baby #3 is on his way!!!

Can you believe it? Little Mara Lew is going to be a BIG sister?! It's true! We don't know how it happened okay we know how but still it was a very big surprise to us as well! We are very excited though and can't wait for our little boy to join our family! We are looking forward to having the biggest party in the hospital on New Year's Eve when little brother will join our family! It has been a fabulous five months and so maybe I should do a little filling in on what's been going on...

Preconception:
March-- Ty and Nate had a wishbone and decided to break it to make a wish. Well, Ty won and made his wish: "I wish for a new baby!" What?! Where did this come from?!! We don't know!

Two weeks later--One day I was a little curious what Ty might name a new baby, so I randomly asked him what he would call his new baby. Without even thinking about it for a second he answered, "Christmas Baby!" What in the world?!!

Pregnancy
April 1--I missed my period! April Fools! Jokes on us right?! Wrong! Baby #3 is on it's way!!

Week 9--Our first visit to Dr. Gerkin. We love our doctor! She is awesome! She asked Nate if he had any questions! He sure did:

• How did this happen?
• Who's the father?
• Can she tell us the personality of the child before it's born?!
  

At this first visit Dr. Gerkin could not hear the baby's heart beat or see anything on the ultrasound. This made us a little concerned but we had faith and hope that all would be okay.

Week 13--Another trip to the doctor and once again no heart beat, but this time we saw our little baby moving around on the ultra sound. We started to wonder if this little creature even had a heart!

Week 17-- Third trip to the doctor and this time we heard music to our ears: the baby's heart beat! Finally! There's nothing quite like that rustling, wooshy, staticy sound!!

Week 22--Over half way through! Yay! We had the BIG ultra sound this is what we've been waiting for! Is it a boy or a girl? As the tech scans the tummy and checks out the baby I see little boy parts three times, but the tech doesn't say anything so it kind of makes me wonder! Finally he asks if we want to find out and we both are holding our breath saying 'YES!' He says, "If you haven't noticed already it's been pretty obvious! You're having a boy!" "YAY!!" was my response! That's exactly what I wanted, but hey we have one of each so it doesn't really matter! As long as he's healthy! Nate was hoping for another sweet like Mara-mellow! But maybe with any luck we can have a sweet little cuddly, mellow, perfect in every way little baby boy!!

How have I felt?
GREAT! Without any complaints! I have been very blessed to feel so good and full of energy! I really don't know what I would have done had I been sick and had to chase two other little kids around! I have felt a little nauseous at night but nothing a pickle and bowl of cereal couldn't cure!

When will our little guy arrive?
Well my due date is actually January 6 but because of my scheduled c-sections (which I absolutely love!) he'll be a week early so that is around December 30 or 31. I asked my doctor if there would be any possible way for a New Year's Eve baby to keep up the tradition of all my kids being born on holidays and she doesn't see any problems with it, but we will have to check with the Operating Room and see what is scheduled for that day. One concern Nate and I just encountered was last week at our ultra sound the baby was actually only measuring at 20 weeks instead of 22. So he might not be ready to come on New Year's Eve and we will have to check with out doctor when the time gets closer! But for now we will cross our fingers and hope for a New Year's Eve baby and be able to have one more tax deduction for the year!

Why did we wait to tell our news?
Because we could!! I just barely started to show a couple weeks ago and so we've really been able to keep this a secret from our friends and ward family here besides all of our family and friends away! It was fun to find out what we were having before we made the announcement! Plus, nine months is a long time to wait for anyone! So it sure sped up the pregnancy for others right?!
How does Ty feel about the new baby?
We haven't really told Ty until last week because we didn't want him 'spill the beans!' So last week when we found out it was a boy we said to Ty "Ty you are going to have a new baby brother! Yay! Isn't that exciting!" He looked rather shocked and said, "Why? I already have one little sweetie and that's all I need!" Cute huh?! So it may take a little getting used to for him, but I know he will be a great big brother to this baby and I'm really grateful that he'll have a little brother to wrestle with and teach how to play football and catch!

What does Mara think of a little brother?
Let's just say Mara loves babies--as long as Mama isn't holding them! Every time she sees a little baby whether at the store, church, where ever she waves and says in a high pitched little voice "Hi baby! Hi baby!" She loves babies! She will be very loving and give many kisses to her baby brother, but I'm sure she will have the shock her her little life when the baby is here to stay!!!

This is the place our little guy will be delivered! We took a tour of the hospital's baby depot and were quite surprised how nice it was! The rooms have all been remodeled and are very spacious and Nate is looking forward to having a full reclining chair with a TV to spend New Year's Day the way it's suppose to be celebrated: Watching football with his sons!!

Just in case you are wondering what the belly looks like at this point here I am at 22 weeks still not wearing maternity clothes (thank goodness!) It's the only belly shot I really have and some belly! I only have a tiny bump to show for it! More pictures to come...

Weekend with Popcorn Papa!!

What a fun weekend we had seeing our papa! He had a little business trip out to Portland so he was able to drive over for the weekend and see us. The kids woke up from their nap a little surprised to see their papa in their home, but after only a few minutes they had warmed right and were so happy to see him!! We picked up Nate from work and headed to Cape Kiwanda for a nice sea food dinner! We had dinner outside on the beach at The Pelican Pub-what a view! For the first time in my life I ordered a fish dinner!! I must admit living in Oregon has changed my preference from hating fish to liking fish a little!! It was actually pretty good. I had the mahi-mahi fish and chips! It was a beautiful clear night with a tiny breeze, but after a little walk along the beach we were all pretty chilly--except for Ty and Mara who could care less about the temperature and enjoyed running in the sand!

The night wouldn't be complete without popcorn of course! Mara crawled right up on Papa's lap and as soon as the popcorn was served she started feeding it to her popcorn papa!

Although papa has been to Tillamook before, he has never been to the Cheese Factory! How can you say you've been to Tillamook but not the cheese factory? We took him on the tour and showed him our favorite place to taste cheese and eat ice-cream!

We then went to Garabaldi-- a little fisherman town just north or Tillamook and walked along the boat dock and checked out all the ships. It was neat to watch Ty walk down the boat dock holding papa's hand and asking papa all the questions about different boats and things he saw. Papa loves boats and we all wished we could go for a ride out into the ocean!
We had so much fun with our papa.Ty asked when papa was going to move to Oregon and I told him hopefully some day we will move closer to papa and the rest of our family! He was satisfied with that but asked 'can we take our blue house with us?'

* Thanks for coming out and seeing us papa! Thanks for all your help on our computer! It's running great!

Visit from Papa!

Home Improvement...never ends!!

We knew when we bought our 'fixer-upper' the list of home repairs and home improvement projects would be never ending! But lately the jobs we've been working on really haven't been so bad!
The first job we (as in mostly Nate) worked on was tiling and fixing up the fireplace. First Nate took a hammer to the ugly red tile and took it all out. We scrubbed and cleaned the fireplace and removed some paint splatters. Then Nate put down new tile and filled in the brick with new grout. We painted the vent and cleaned the window!! With all of this done it looks like a new fireplace!

(Before)

(After)

The second project we worked on was staining the front deck. Because of all the rain we get our deck needed to be protected with a good water-resistant stain. Nate and I spent Saturday afternoon working side-by-side applying the stain. Although Nate really would have rather rather been watching a good college football game on TV it was fun to listen to the BYU vs. Washington game with him on the radio! It's always nice to work with Nate, we have good chats and feel a lot of accomplishment when we get a project done. I'm grateful he is such a handy man and so motivated to get things done. Yes it is too bad we don't have TV, but thank goodness we have time for other things like home improvement!!

(Before)

(After)

Ty's first day of preschool!!!

Look at that smile on Ty's face! Does he look excited for preschool or what?! I thought he might be in tears this morning, but with a few prayers and a father's blessing last night I think Ty is ready for a new chapter in his life: preschool! He couldn't help but smiling, and kept covering his mouth to hide his excitement! The whole family went to see Ty off to his first day! I had more butterflies in my tummy I think than Ty did! But once we got to his preschool he got a little nervous! He didn't want to let go of my hand, but Mara was sure thrilled to be there! She ran and found the toys and made herself right at home! We said good-bye to Ty and we left and I turned around to look at him through the window and he had his hand stretched out to me and said 'wait! don't go!' It broke my little heart and I shed a few tears! Four hours was a long time to be without my little buddy! But Mara and I had a fun time playing together and it sure is easier to entertain one than two and you can get a lot accomplished! I kept looking at the clock all morning thinking 'three more hours...two more hours...I just can't wait to see Ty!' When it was finally time to pick him up I walked in the door and he didn't see me so I just observed for a few minutes and he was really enjoying himself. He was playing with four other little boys with cars and trucks and he was even talking to his teacher! Yay! (I told his teacher hat I'd be happy if he even said one word to her today!) She said he was a little shy at first but eventually warmed right up! When Ty finally noticed I was there he was rather bashful! I thought he would run right up and give me a hug, but no he kept on playing and even went and hid! I think that's a good sign, he was having a great time! I asked Ty all about preschool, and he said it was fine then said, 'do I have to go back?!' I asked him what he learned today if they worked on any letters and he said 'no. I learned that there is a boys bathroom and a girls bathroom and I use the boys bathroom'!! Son, that is a very important thing to learn! I'm glad he's got that figured out in preschool! Today they learned all the rules and where everything is. Next week they start on a letter. Ty has two teachers: Teacher Cora and Teacher Sandi. They are both very nice. There were five or six boys in class today and only one girl, but Cora said three more girls signed up today. She said there would be twelve children in his class. Ty was excited about his snack: fruitloops and he said 'we even had milk!' That is one way into our little guys heart: cereal! He takes after his dad! He loves it! I hope that Ty can have fun with all the kids and meet lots of new friends. He said that two boys were nice to him and one boy was mean and he didn't know how to share! So I told Ty that he needed to teach him how to share because Ty is good at sharing!! Mara sure missed Ty, but I think she enjoyed the free reign on the house and playing with all the toys without having to share with Ty! As soon as Ty and Mara got home they started laughing together and chasing each other around and playing! I really think this is going to be a great experience for everyone in the family but especially Ty! I'm really proud of him for taking this big step in his life and grateful he can have this opportunity to learn and grow! Remember Ty: I can do hard things with the help of Heavenly Father and Jesus! (That was our FHE lesson last night!! :)

Ty's first day of preschool

Happy Birthday Mara!!!

Wow! My baby is two!! I can't believe it! What a little cutie! We couldn't ask for a better daughter to come to our family. She surely has been our little 'mara-mellow' such a good little girl! She is full of giggles and smiles all the time! To celebrate Mara's big day we had birthday blueberry muffins and opened presents. Her favorite present was her new baby stroller to push her dolly in!
We headed up north to Canon Beach and spent the day playing in the sand, feeding seagulls, and strolling through the ritzy shops. Canon Beach is a rich tourist attraction along the coast. It has many elegant and fancy clothing shops, beautiful art gallaries, and little cafe's. It really is a beautiful little town of manicured streets, and full of flowers. Canon Beach is also one of the famous spots along the Oregon Coast for the haystack rocks.
Mara chowed down on homemade hamburgers and corn on the cob--yum! Her birthday cake was a triple-berry on angel food cake! She picked out all the blueberries and left the cake!!

One of our favorite things today was feeding the seagulls. We hadn't planned on this little activity but a man at the beach gave us a loaf of bread and boy was it fun! We've never seen so many seagulls in our life. They swooped so close a couple times I started to scream! Ty took good care of his mama and chased all the seagulls away from me!

Mara's Birthday