Monday, Monday!

I went to the Dr. yesterday and the date is set for our Baby Girl!

Monday - May 4, 2009


"A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities."

-Author Unknown

GOOD MORNING!

• Singing and Groov'in to the music of Jack Johnson

• Making Banana Pancakes

• Pretending like it's the weekend
  

= good morning :)

The Secret Garden

Last week i finished reading the book 'The Secret Garden' I have seen the movie and i was just curious how the book read. It's a simple, uplifting, SPRING book!

'Unlock the magic of The Secret Garden'

I love how the children in the book come alive as they learn to appreciate the joys of the outdoors. The book to me confirms the power and importance of our children learning to love nature.

Everyday i walk out in our back yard and i love seeing the new growth of plants and the blooming of new flowers. It is refreshing! Penny is in awe every morning when she looks out the window and sees our dandelions in full yellow bloom. The weeds are beautiful in her eyes! She gets so excited and i gladly let her go pick a handful of yellow flowers and then she brings them to me to put in a vase :)



Oh, the things which happened in that garden! If you have never had a garden you can't understand and if you have had a garden you will know that it would take a whole book to describe all that came to pass there!


Power of Thoughts:
"In each century since the beginning of the world wonderful things have been discovered. In the last century more amazing things were found out than in any century before. In this new century hundreds of things still more astounding will be brought to light. At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done—then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts—just mere thoughts—are as powerful as electric batteries—as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live."

"WHERE YOU TEND A ROSE, MY LAD
A THISTLE CAN NOT GROW"


"One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun—which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries. Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in some one's eyes."

You can read all the chapters of this book at this site: The Secret Garden

Happy Days in the Garden. I loved how Colin learned he had power over his thoughts, he came alive and was absorbed with radiant moments of watching all the changes in the garden.

Here's a post dedicated to taking time to watch all the changes of spring! The world is in it's happy moments of transformation and the happiness is contagious!

Cake Decorating Tips

i finished my last cake decorating class and i enjoyed learning some new tips! And i definitely still need more practice. The last tip i learned was how to make roses and that is a little difficult ;) Here is a picture of my finished cake -
The important part of decorating a cake is to have the right consistency of frosting. Here are the recipes i used for stiff, medium and thin consistency -

And i will share with you a yummy cake filling i used for one of my cakes! It turned out really good, it's light and fluffy!!!

Cake filling:
2 1/3 cup whipping cream
Whip slightly and add:
1 oz of instant pudding (flavor of your choice)
Whip on medium speed to achieve a thin to medium icing.

(Dianne's recipe)

ENJOY :)

Countdown time!

Today I had another ultrasound and we have great news to share! Baby Allison is head down/first. My whole pregnancy has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. As of last week's ultrasound the Dr. was pretty sure we would be scheduling a c-section today. But, with blessings from Heaven above my little girl went head down, my placenta has been first and in the way and now it is more up to the side. The percentage of her doing that was extremely small. So, great news and now fewer complications will be involved! I am so relieved and grateful! The picture below is a face shot of our baby girl! Supposedly she has lots of hair, even a little mullet already, time will tell whether the ultrasounds are right. She already looks cute to me, with chubby little cheeks. 13 days to go! I have never counted down the days before but I am ready and waiting!

Our sunshine baby! As of right now she will be a cinco de mayo baby - We are looking forward to May 5th

Having fun with cousins

This past week we had the chance to have fun with cousins for a few days! The kids had a great time! We went to the lake and flew a kite on one of our windy days. We went to the local ponds and fed the ducks! The kids just had a good time playing together! Uncles and Aunts and Cousins are the best! We loved seeing you all and we're already looking forward to our family reunion in July :)

Dallin's art

This is a picture Dallin drew of his favorite cartoon characters from 'WORD GIRL' He loves this show and i thought he did a great job coloring these characters without looking at reference of Word girl and her side kick, a monkey :) Dallin does not like coloring in coloring books, he only does his own art work. He loves telling me that he is an artist and that he definitely is!

We had an 'EGG'cellent Easter

Easter weekend:

*Friday night date night - Always the highlight of my weekend!
*Dallin played a soccer game Saturday morning in the rain
*All weekend it had been scattered showers with bits of sunshine
*Easter Bunny came early Saturday morning
*Sugar overload :)
*Easter egg hunt with friends
*A beautiful, sunny Easter morning
*A relaxing Sunday, with a family walk in the afternoon = an excellent weekend!

Pictures at the Boise Temple

i love to see the temple!

We don't have much longer until another Rocha baby will be in the pictures with Dallin & Penny

They are so sweet together!

My poor son is a good sport about taking pictures, he loves to give his classic looks but i love that pose of him wrapping his arms around his sister! That innocence won't last forever or i should look on the bright side and hope that they will be best friends forever. I know Penny is meant to be his little sister and they truly have a neat bond.

We went and took pictures, then we went to Barnes & Nobles for there Easter themed story time. The kids could of stayed there for hours but my tummy was getting hungry so we went to have lunch with Daddy and that was the best part being able to see him during the day, even if it was short :)

We've had a great day!

Miss Piggy

Isn't she cute :)

For preschool today we made animal masks for the kids, using Zoo pal paper plates :)
idea found @ Makeandtakes

And last night we made lasting lilies with the kiddos. There are a hundred and one ways to make things with little hand prints, so we made these Easter lilies! Idea found @ Family Fun.

Preparing for Easter Sunday

Tonight for Family Home Evening we would like to tell a story from the last week of our Savior's life and have an activity to teach our kids the true importance of Easter. We would like to do this every night this week until Easter morning. Elder Holland gave a great talk yesterday about Palm Sunday, and the significance of this week. I have found some more excellent talks given about this topic:

"Jesus, the very thought of thee"

"Relections on the Savior's Last week"

"The Greatest week in History"

So, tonight we will start with the Triumphant entry of Christ in Jerusalem- Palm Sunday. The scriptural account found in John 12: 12-15. The prophecy of Zechariah fulfilled from the Old Testament. The talks above give great insights to Palm Sunday and of the days leading to the glorious morning of Easter Sunday.

This week I want to show the kids and discuss the pictures of the Last Supper, Christ in Gethsemane, Christ on the Cross and Christ at the tomb.

There are several songs that you can sing together as a family for this Easter time -

LDS Children song book

I especially love the songs: 'On a Golden Springtime' 'I feel my Saviors Love' 'Families can be together forever' 'Did Jesus Really Live Again?'

One of the days in the history of Christ's last week he talks about the importance of being clean to enter the Temples. It would be neat to take the kids to the temple grounds and talk to them of how we can be together forever as a family and how our Savior has made that possible. Death is not the end!

One day we can go for a walk and look for all the signs of spring that remind us that Jesus rose from the dead and new flowers that rise from the earth in spring remind us that we, too, shall live again. We will probably do this on Saturday and first we will have the Easter Bunny come and leave them a few surprises in the back yard and then discuss the miracles of Spring time. I bought a bonnet for Penny to decorate with real flowers for Easter.

Easter morning we can go watch the Sunrise and read of the account of Easter morning in the New testament John 20: 1-18 and read the "The Living Christ"

Well, these are the ideas in my mind for now! I believe Easter should be celebrated as much as Christmas. I hope we can make this a special week and remember how blessed we are to have the knowledge of our Savior.

Trying not to count the days :)

This previous week we have looked forward to this first weekend in April. It's always a time to anticipate! Conference Weekend! It's a time to be inspired and uplifted by taking two days to listen to our living Prophet and Apostles. I loved every single talk! I'm looking forward to re-reading and applying what they taught! You can read more at Lds.org

I am glad this month is busy and we have something every weekend! I am trying to not count the days until this baby comes. I just need to make the days count and she will be here soon enough. I am a control nut, so when my future is unknown it drives me crazy. My bag for the hospital has been packed for two weeks now ;) Just waiting to be used! Good news from the doctor last week i might not need a c-section. I will know for sure next week! He will do another ultrasound to see if my placenta has moved up more out of the way. My placenta just has to be monitored carefully and depending on location of time of delivery it will determine what needs to be done.

Dallin had his first soccer game this weekend. It's fun to watch his little body run as fast as he can and have some coordination to kick the ball. He had a fun time!

Penny was a great cheerleader for her brother :)

April Showers

how wonderful it is simply to be alive!

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Don't forget to jump in a puddle some time this month :)

Spring into Sunshine

I love the color yellow! Here are some spring yellow pictures that make me happy!

My little D. is such a good boy. Whenever we go outside lately he picks me a little flower to place behind my ear. I love it when he does that, and he loves to pick me flowers to bring inside the house!

He loves to make my bed for me, the other day he told me "I like to clean MOM, I've just been tricking you ;)" He doesn't always clean willingly but if we turn on some good upbeat music, my boy can clean and he cleans fast :) He will even put toothpaste on my toothbrush in the morning for a small act of kindness! And some GREAT news we received yesterday was that he has been accepted to a Spanish/English school. They will teach 70% Spanish and 30% English and hopefully by fifth grade he should be bilingual! I think this is going to be a great oppurtunity!!!

For FHE this week we made an Easter Egg Tree!

The kids have loved looking at the eggs they have decorated! It was fun making it! It was a little difficult to get the branches to stand up in the little vase we have, so that was Daddy's job to figure that one out. It was a bit frustrating but when it was done Penny made it all worth the effort and told Daddy " You are the best DAD ever" She was highly impressed with his skills to get the vase to stand up!! One of Penny's great qualities is her quickness to compliment! She is so sweet! Cardboard and lots of tape was his trick :) It made the kids happy and that is all that matters :) Daddy even made a little HUMPTY Dumpty egg for the request from his son.

Just another little side note, the little bear you see above was my bear as a little girl and Dallin loves this bear! He - (Cinnamon) does everything with Dallin! He helped decorate eggs, eats breakfast with us, goes for car rides! I love seeing Dallin love this bear as much as I did as a child!

Books - Great for the Imagination

This weekend we discovered a great new site for listening to books 'Classics from the Golden Age' click here to see more - KIDDIE RECORDS. On friday night we sat down with the kids and had root beer floats and instead of watching a movie together, we downloaded some old stories from our childhood on the computer and enjoyed listening to some classic stories. The kids liked the stories 'Rolito' - 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears ' and 'Woody the Woodpecker' and many, many more books! They did well sitting down and just listening! It was great for there little minds!!! I had forgetten how contagious Woody's laugh is!

Another great book for encouraging your kids to use there imaginations is "And to Think That I Saw It on MULBERRY STREET" BY Dr Seuss It's a great book! So, if your interested check it out at your local library.

I wish i would of had my camera for our Saturday morning adventure but i will just have to write about it! Instead of just doing the weekend rituals of cleaning, watching cartoons, errands, yard work etc. We woke up early, took the kids to go get some donuts and went to the lake. It was a beautiful morning, we watched the chipmunks chase eachother in the trees, listened to the birds sing, climbed on fallen trees, and thru rocks into the lake. It was cute to see the kids bundled in a jean blanket to keep eachother warm while they devoured there sprinkled covered donuts. It was a saturday morning worth remembering! It was a play before we work day! To often it is the other way around! So, that sums up our last weekend of March 2009 and i am looking forward to April :)

(reading books with Daddy - Penny dressed up as a princess fairy)

A name for our baby girl

It has taken us awhile to decide on a name for our baby girl and for right now we have decided on

Allison Dawn Rocha

We are excited to have a spring - sunshine baby!

Weekend wrap up

• Friday night should have been date night but we have sick kiddos at our house so instead i had the chance to have some alone time and go get my haircut - A new spring look! Feels great :)

• Saturday i had more girl time learning how to decorate cakes! It was AWESOME! I learned how to finally make the right consistency of frosting! It makes a huge difference! I learned a yummy recipe for a filling in cake, so it makes it light and fluffy. I also learned how to make a basket weave with frosting and how to use piping gel. Great tips :)

• And when my husband and son went on some weekend errands they knew Mommy needed some chocolate :) So, when they went to Costco they bought the best chocolate treat ever!!!! Caramel macadamia clusters! Next time you are at Costco you must try!!! SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!

• 5 weeks left until our little girl makes an appearance! We have decided on a name and I will leave that for tomorrows post!

On today's to do list: LAUNDRY - Loads of fun! Have a good Monday!