Scripture Boys

A few weeks ago I found (and recorded part of) the following scene [Warning: it is long...]:

A little background info. Harrison was given a missionary sized copy of the Book of Mormon by his Grandma for his birthday. He loves having his very own, and has started reading it.  A month or so ago, he made the very lofty goal of finishing the Book of Mormon with in a few weeks.  Not wanting to discourage him, but wanting to help him to be more realistic, Sam told Harrison he would get a special outing every time he finished a book in the Book of Mormon.  He has been reading 1st Nephi ever since, and loving it.  He'll come tell us about what he has read, and seems very proud of himself.  Noah was given the same sized book from his Primary teacher at church, and so Harrison was helping Noah to read and mark his very own scriptures in the above video.  As this was happening, I decided it would be nice for the boys to have their very own scripture cases just for their Book of Mormon.  I had seen kids with these before, and figured I could make them without too much trouble.  I took the boys to the fabric store, and let them pick out some fabric.  I had an old denim skirt that had been in the mending pile way too long (like 7 years....) and decided it was time to use it for something.

Here's me wearing the skirt.  I loved that skirt, but it was a wrap that never stayed wrapped quite right.  As I was looking at how I should cut the bags out, I noticed that I had two pockets in the skirt that I could use for the bags.  So I cut around the pockets, and then carefully removed the waistband to use for handles.  Here's the result:

Harrison requested his initials, while Noah wanted just a big N:

 

Each bag is lined with their chosen fabric, and has lettering fused on the outside.  We used the pockets to hold colored pencils which they can use to mark their scriptures.  Harrison likes to mark each verse as he finishes it, and other things that stick out to him as he reads.  Noah can't read by himself yet, so he marks all the words he recognizes.  The day after I made these, the boys took them to sacrament meeting, and sat silently the ENTIRE meeting reading/marking their scriptures.  And then continued once we got home. 

Harrison also finished 1st Nephi on Sunday.  Hopefully 2nd Nephi doesn't bog him down too much... 

All About Olivia

Olivia is growing up so fast these days. She's 18 months now - I can hardly believe it (and she'll be 19 in just a couple more days!) She's done some pretty funny things that I wanted to write about.

A few days ago she wandered upstairs while everyone was getting ready in the morning.  I was busy clearing the breakfast table/making lunches/unloading the dishwasher,  so it took me a few minutes to go find out what she was up to.  And the silence had me pretty worried.  This is what I found:

Shes was sitting in the bathroom with all the shampoo/baby wash she could find, and was taking turns dumping them on her head.

Is this the "I know I'm in trouble" face, or what? Oh, and yes, that's Noah's underwear on her leg. In all the mischievous acts my two boys did at this age, I don't think they ever involved dressing themselves, or washing themselves. Girls sure are different.

Olivia loves to draw.  She also loves to use as many markers as possible, which usually means that we end up with all the markers with their caps off all over the table and floor.

She often holds a marker or crayon in the correct possition for writing - I guess you learn a lot being a thrid child, because I never taught her this. I would love to let her color more, but more often I'm finding the coloring on the walls...

She is also, as I mentioned before, interested in dressing herself. The other day she was with me in her room while I was putting away laundry. When I turned around from what I was doing, she had no less than 3 pairs of bloomers on.

This girl makes me laugh.

After I took them off, she promptly tried to put them 

back on. This time, all at once. 

A few other cute things about this cute girl. Every time she gets dressed (or sees her hair accessories) she asks to put one on. "Bow, pity [pretty] bow" she says. And she can be quite opinionated about which one I put on. And sometimes demands that she have multiple bows on at the same time. She loves accessories of all kinds, and one of her first words was shoes. She loves carrying around bags, and trying on hats. She says "cank-oo" [thank you] whenever someone gives her something, and loves to fold her arms, and sometimes mimic the words, during prayers. She loves, loves, loves teddy bears, and signs and says "bea" [bear] every time she sees one. Even if it's being held by a different kid, across the room, she'll yell for it like it's her own. Balls are probably 2nd on her list, and she loves to sign and say "ba" every time she sees one. She's a fabulous sleeper - she goes down around 6, and around 7 (or whenever she hears people awake downstairs) we can hear her calling "Hi! Hi!" She's almost always very happy in the morning. (I probably would be too if I got 13 hours of sleep a night!) She can often be heard making shooting noises while she points whatever she has in her hand at you (her sippy cup, a bear, a lego...) Do you think she's got 2 older brothers? She also takes anything that resembles a telephone (calculator, baby monitor, toy phone, real phone) holds it up to her ear, says, "hallo" and then continues to babble into the phone. When I told her Grandma was coming, and asked her to say Grandma, she held her hand up to her ear and said "Hallo!" Apparently I talk to my mom on the phone quite a bit. Our front door makes a chime whenever it's opened, and whenever she hears it she yells, "Dadda! Hi Dadda!" Over and over until she actually sees Sam. It's quite a welcome home. I sure there are many more that I can't think to mention. We just love having her around to brighten our day and make us smile.