Playing at the Museum

Our local museums offer a free day once in awhile, but I've never been able to go. Isaac always has our car at work or at school on those days.

But Isaac's on summer break right now. So this was my one chance to go to the free day at the museum. Ha!

We spent a lot of time in an area that's supposed to be for families, but it's really for kids. The rest of us...watched Little Boy play. And play and play and play.

My lovely sister, Kaylyn, came along. Hi, sister!

And so did my brother Thane, who was at home for a couple weeks from BYU. Oh, and Isaac. But he always tags along.

Once Little Boy was done, we went to see some other cool stuff. Cool stuff that I don't have pictures of. Sorry.

So my free-day-at-the-museum dreams came true. It wasn't even crowded. Check and see if your local museum has free days--free fun is the best kind of fun.

Someone Always Cares

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"At times some may think that no one cares--but someone always cares! Your Heavenly Father will not leave you to struggle alone, but stands ever ready to help."

-Thomas S. Monson

Something to Think About

I finally saw the last Harry Potter movie this week.

So, since I'm way behind on photos AND it's the weekend so I'm feeling extra lazy, here's a thought from Dumbledore in lieu of an actual post:

{I don't have a legitimate source for this image. I found it on Pinterest.}

Did You Know Popcorn Is a Whole Grain?

Yup. Popcorn is a whole grain.

So I'm making popcorn trail mix today (just google "popcorn trail mix" and you'll get tons of hits).

But please, for the love of real food, do not make this:

and pretend that you're eating something healthy. If you must microwave your popcorn, google "microwave popcorn in a paper bag" for instructions on how to pop real popcorn in your microwave.

You're welcome.

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"Parents can and must correct, even chasten, if their children are not to be cast adrift at the mercy of a merciless adversary. President Boyd K. Packer has observed that when a person in a position to correct another fails to do so, he is thinking of himself."

-Elder Todd D. Christofferson

Something to Make You Smile...

Go be awesome! Happy weekend!

[I totally stole this from...all over the internet. I have no idea what the original source is.]

A Boy and His...Python.

Little Boy has a brand-new stuffed snake. And he loves it.

My parents went on vacation last month and brought it back for him. [Actually, my weirdo brother picked it out.] [Hi, Thane!]

Anyway, the snake is...long. And it's probably the strangest animal I've ever seen a child sleep with.

Music

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I've posted this quote before, but it bears repeating:

"If you can say that a song is spiritually inspiring or that it urges you to see yourself in a more noble perspective, the music is worthwhile. If it merely entertains or lifts your spirits, then it also has a useful place. But if it makes you want to respond in a carnal, sensual way or to consider unrighteous desires, then that music should be avoided. It is not worthy.”

-Boyd K. Packer

Golden Raspberries

Raspberries! I love them.

Isaac doesn't. Which is a tragedy, really, because that means I have to eat all of them.

I saw these at the grocery store a few weeks ago:

Golden raspberries? I'd never heard of them. But they taste the same as red ones.

So of course I had to buy some. I was going to bake something with them, but...um...suddenly they were all gone.

I dunno how that happened.

With Grandpa

That is all.

Green Smoothie Popsicles

Two things you should know before you read this post:

1. My mind was totally blown when I realized I could freeze smoothies in popsicle molds--I love real-fruit popsicles, but I don't like all the sugar.

2. I'm afraid of blenders.

So I told Little Boy (months ago) that we could make some popsicles. Someday. And then I forgot. And forgot and forgot and forgot and forgot....

But I finally did it today. Since green smoothies (that is, a smoothie with leafy greens in it) are all the rage right now, I decided to use a green smoothie recipe for our popsicles.

See, they don't even look green. Little Boy was concerned that "green" popsicles would taste like limes. He doesn't like lime popsicles.

I used the first recipe on this site. Fruit, spinach, no sugar. (Edit: I made half of the recipe. It was the perfect amount for eight little popsicles.) We haven't tasted them yet, but the smoothie was pretty good before freezing it.

Little Boy is REALLY hoping that tomorrow will be warm. Warm means that Mommy will let him eat a popsicle.

A Raccoon Ate My Cat

To my usual readers: you don't have to read this post. Really. I'm not writing it for you guys (which is a good thing, trust me). Because that title? It's not a joke. But if you want to know why I'm writing this post, then scroll down to "Why I'm Writing This Post."

Getting to the point: A raccoon attacked and ate my parents' cat. My husband and I were house-sitting at the time, and we found what was left of the cat on the lawn. She was somehow still alive, so my husband bravely took her to the vet to be put down. And I cleaned up the lawn mess.

Why I'm writing this post: After we dealt with the mess, I did some Googling to see if this was some kind of freak incident or if it's something common that I'd just never heard of. I didn't find much, and what I did find was a lot of debate about raccoons' eating habits. So I just want to put this out there, in case someone else, in the future, Googles the same thing--yes, raccoons can and do eat cats. It happened to mine. If you have questions, you can e-mail me at teachmetowalk@ hotmail.com.

Simplify, Simplify

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I'm trying to do too much.

Something I've learned in my many, many years on this earth (ha!) is that simplifying seems to be a constant process. Stuff just sneaks into my life. There are way too many good things that I could be doing.

So I'm going to sit down and make a list of all these good things. I want to see how much time I spend on them, and which ones are most important to me.

I have a feeling that I'm spending way too much time on things that are pretty far down on the "important to me" list. We'll see.

Summer Days

I love when I'm not too big for the playground equipment.