The Clutters

It's been a while since someone blogged, especially me, so I thought I would throw out some updates for everyone.

Let's start with Ella. She is loving being a Sunbeam. She brings her Book of Mormon in her scripture tote every Sunday so she can be counted among the Primary kids that brought their scriptures. She's very proud. Also, Ella's latest obsession is a movie called "Aliens in the Attic." It's a cute live action movie with a lot of slap stick/physical comedy. Ella can pretty much quote you the whole movie and if you're anywhere near her, she'll tell you all her favorite parts and the plot of the movie. She's also getting pretty good at the "who sings this song" game. She impressed me the other day by getting 3 songs in a row right, the last one she named before they had even started singing. Yes, my baby's brilliant!

And then there's Dora. She has been busy being back at school. She won an award for the character attribute of the month, for the month of February, which was Honesty. It was a nice little deal with a slide show of the kids and a goody bag from Yoke's. Dora's also been learning to cook and make some of the recipes from the Steen Sty Cookbook, with the help of grandma. She has made us a casserole for dinner, some orange jello salad, and the George Washington pudding (yummy). She is also perfecting her brownie making abilities. I think we're all going to be gaining more weight! She's been doing a lot of the usual, reading, writing, you know Dora.

At the beginning of the month, both girls took an art class at the Corbin Art Center (which Dora finds a little creepy, and I have to admit at her age I did too). It was a Valentine class so they made all sorts of Valentine's. They were in separate classes since it was divided by age. It was Ella's first class. In her class she was the youngest, while Dora was the oldest in her class. Ella was so funny because she wouldn't let me leave. I could understand that, since it was something new and she wasn't quite sure of it. the other mom's stayed with their little ones too. Of course those moms got to help their little people with their little arts and crafts. Ella said I could watch, but I wasn't allowed to raise a finger to help her. I just had to laugh because she wanted me there, but she wanted her independence. That's Ella!

I have been pretty busy myself. I have been busy and active with my book group. It's nice to have a resource of so many women with the same values who read so many different books! Every book club, we select a book for the next month, but then also discuss so many other good books, my wish list is a mountain right now. I love it! We just read the Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, if anyone is interested. She's an LDS author and writes adaptations of lesser known Grimm fairytales. They are considered youth books, but it's a good read for adults too.

Anyway, I am also now teaching one of the two Sunbeam classes, Ella's of course. it was a little rocky at first being her teacher, but I think we're both getting used to it. I really love that age group! They are cute and funny and it's great to see how they will respond to things. I was just talking last night that I think the only Primary class I have ever taught is Sunbeams. The first time being with little Kelli Brianne in my Sunbeam class! Memories! :-)

Some other excitement this last month. We got our cats spayed, which was nice. Sammy had a hernia which they fixed too. They both healed really nicely, so now we don't have to worry about them going into heat anymore. Thank goodness!!!

Jason has been perfecting his ability to make Dad's spinach balls and the girls and I are not complaining. He makes them very well and they are so yummy. The nice thing is, since you have to freeze them, you can cook a few here and there and it makes a quick and yummy snack. Have I mentioned how fat we are getting? :-)

The weather in Spokane has been pretty darn nice this winter. The girls and I have been able to take lots of walks around the neighborhood. The nice thing about our neighborhood is that there are so many options about where you can walk and walk to. It's been a lot of fun! With all the yummy food we've been eating, it's a good thing we've been able to keep ourselves somewhat active! :-)

Well, I think you are all now caught up on our household. I would love to see more blogs from everyone else! Hint hint!