Logan Family Center

What a great, free resource to the community! The Logan Family Center (formerly Logan Family Information and Resource Center) have a free toy, book, and educational movie library, so you can take the items home or just play and read while you're there. I felt like I didn't have to go out and buy every developmental toy because Miss V and Mr C could play with them there. They also have parenting books, English classes, Love and Logic classes, and many other resources for adults and families.

Last year we attended a few song and story times at the Logan Family Center down in the "Island" and some of the summer activities, but this last fall they started doing Storybook Preschool. A free preschool for 3+ year-olds, where I can bring my younger children and they're allowed to participate?! Yes, please! I loved how fun Miss Coral made each class, and parents were given opportunities in each section of the 75-minute class to participate and learn how to teach their children. The units were based around classic kids books, which we enjoyed even more as we got to play and do activities along with each book. We had sections for crafts, large motor activities, and language skills.

I loved that my kids also got to practice being in a classroom setting, where they learned to listen to the teacher, follow instructions, and how to act around other kids in that environment. Miss V enjoyed the rotating opportunities to bring a book from home that I would read, and the times we had our turns bringing snacks. (My fail was bringing blue pierogis on the blue-themed day. Should have stuck with the berries.) Miss V learned the days of the week to the tune of "Clementine," The months of the year to "Ten Little Indians," and of course reinforcement with the alphabet, numbers, colors, and shapes.

One of the hardest things about moving out of the valley is not having this incredible resource anymore. Thanks for all you've done, Miss Coral, and the rest of the Logan Family Center staff and volunteers. For anyone who spends time with children in Cache Valley, I highly recommend checking out the Family Center for yourself.

Christmas activity

Each child knew where to set, where to put his or her bag, 

and where to gather any projects with a personal animal. 

Miss V's was the pink lamb, and Mr C's was the gray horse.

One mom went above and beyond one day.

Jumping on the "bed" (after reading The Napping House)

Pretending to be the night watchman from the Corduroy book

Beware of Dinosaurs

Miss V wanted to be Queen Elsa. OK. Fortunately, Zak decided he'd be willing to dress as John Hammond from Jurassic Park. I can work with that. Rather than wearing short shorts and tank top with a light blouse in October as Dr Ellie Sadler, I chose to go as Dr Alan Grant. I found a fitting dress for Miss V in China. Done. I looked online for a dinosaur hoodie which Mr C could wear more than one night. I found a perfect one from Target, and then realized it was discontinued. The kids and I hit up the local Deseret Industries thrift store for my stuff and to look for any dinosaur ideas. I found a faded patterned hoodie, which could have worked, but wasn't great. I thought again, and considered the fact that his favorite word to say repeatedly is "Truck!" Scratch the dino idea, let's make a Jeep costume! I wanted it to be like the Jurassic Park Jeeps in the first film of the franchise, so I looked online and found some movie stills. It looked manageable for a custom sewing job. I'm not a talented experienced seamstress, which a close look at any of my sewing projects will attest, but I've done enough clothing repairs and adjustments for my family in the last seven years to pick up a few skills.

I drew a preliminary sketch, which the kids colored, so I drew a secondary sketch, and searched for materials. For the main body and bumper I found Walmart sweatshirts, and bought fat quarters for most of the other stuff. Huzzah for Jurassic Park patches on eBay, because there's no way I could have managed without those. JoAnn finished off the rest of my supplies (along with Mom, who had a bunch of thread I used). Thanks to my parents and sister, Trena, who took care of my kiddos while I ignored them for countless hours to sew. Recommendation for future projects: use paracord instead of yarn for the winch cable, so it doesn't fray in the washer.

We got to wear our costumes four times this Halloween: my parent' church carnival, our church's fall festival, actual Halloween, and the Family Center's preschool party. Zak and I didn't want to spend $30-200 dollars on an ambered mosquito, so he got a Gerber baby container filled with orange hand soap, and added a rubber fly we found at the dollar store. D.I. did have a bamboo stick, so he hot-glued it all together, but partway into our party, the glue pulled the paint off the Gerber lid, so his main prop lost its focal point. I admit, he did quite well growing a beard to dye for the occasion. He insisted that Miss V's costume did fit with the family theme, because "she's the one who made the dinosaurs go extinct."

After the first two parties, it felt like Halloween was done (about before actual Halloween), but thankfully the kids' and my costumes are easy to wear, and I only had to wash them once to get soup off the queen's and Jeep's attire. Because of Zak's perfect hat that I borrowed, I did get called Indiana Jones once or twice, but the theme worked best at the trunk-or-treat on Halloween where I had black cheesecloth, a camo blanket, cardboard sign reading "Beware of Velociraptors," some dollar store dinosaurs, and Zak's phone playing John Williams' brilliant theme music.

Girls' Week

Zak is our neighborhood's scoutmaster, so when he (and some other wonderful, helpful men in our community) took the boys up north to scout camp this summer, Mom and I took Miss V down south to visit my Trena sister in sunny St. George.

After Mom's car got some last minute repairs, we drove to Salt Lake to visit a friend, and progressed on our trip, listening to tales of Narnia along the way. Little Miss V had been sick a couple weeks earlier, and still had a problem throwing up when she got upset, so on the ride down around hour four she started crying, and spit up. Fortunately, we were prepared with towels, water, changes of clothes, and wet wipes, and that was the only time we needed them. Trena already had a bed set up for us, for which we were very grateful. We kind of took over the house with all of our stuff, so I hope we didn't overwhelm them.

We watched movies, shopped for food, jewelry, and wooden craft projects, and helped organize their storage shed. (Mom doesn't get called a superwoman for nothing). One morning we went to the neighborhood pool. Miss V fell asleep as I held her, so we laid her in the shade and enjoyed the sun and water (We paid for not reapplying the sunscreen, though).

Thursday became Miss V's day. We drove into town for the interactive Children's Museum, the St. George Carousel, and the perfect little-kid splash pad and stream. Inside the museum, she loved pretending to drive the vehicles, including the airplane. The projector facing the ground with a giant interactive piano and balloon-popping game, as well as the bell-ringing rope were also hits in her book.

Friday we spent in our comfies, sanding, painting, and mod-podging. Trena worked on letters for a Bee Happy sign, Mom prepared a liberty bell, and I did a spring flower and camper trailer.

Before we left on Saturday, Dallas watched Miss V so Mom, Trena, and I could go to the St. George Temple together. With a toddler, I don't go as much as I used to, so it was nice to be there with two very special women in my life. The drive home started with V giggling for about ten minutes while playing peek-a-boo and twirling an umbrella. She slept for part of the journey, and besides the sacrificial death and miraculous return of Aslan, our return trip was thankfully uneventful. Mom brought us home to an awaiting Zak.

Unfortunately for Mom, the rest of her night involved being stranded in a parking lot for an hour or two when her car refused to start, until my brother got out of a movie with my dad's car. Everything's sorted now, and we're glad to be back home with Daddy.

Glow Stick Party

 My neighbor caught us outside and invited us to get some glow sticks at the dollar store and meet up at the church for a glow stick party in the dark. We loved it, especially Miss V.