Our Family Project

Today I was sifting through all the clothing and pulling out clothes that were stained and torn, as well as clothing the children had outgrown. There was a huge pile of clothing to sort through, and an ever growing pile of clothes to donate.  At one point, I pulled out a pink t-shirt and asked, "Whose is this?" Someone said it was Maryanne's, which couldn't have been true because it was a size 8. It wasn't her color anyway ... So I tossed it in the donate pile. (In hind sight, I now think my mom gave it to Maryanne for Christmas, and she said that she wasn't sure what size to get for Maryanne. Whoops on my part.) That's when Adam exclaimed that he wanted a pink shirt. Other children chimed in with, "It is his color." (Referring to his Dressing Your Truth type.) Adam bolted toward the donate pile and seized the shirt, promptly pulling it over his head and the collared shirt he had on. (Later he removed the collared shirt, after much cajoling from ...

Just in case any of you wondered whether we love each other over here: Yes!  Yes, we do!

I feel like the best way to describe this little boy is: clown.  He is forever pulling something funny and crazy at our house.  He runs around at warp speed just about all the time.  On this particular day, I had the camera out and was taking pictures of our daily life and the fun things the children were doing.  At the time, Adam wasn't doing anything really, just sitting at the kitchen island.  But, he really  wanted his picture taken.  So, I snapped a few of him ... while he pulled funny faces the whole time. In case you weren't sure, he is happy most of the time.  This is the face we see everyday.  Although, most of the time he is looking at us.  Don't know what he was looking at in all of these pictures.  He's so much fun to have around.

Today Jon showed the children a video on YouTube that shows a couple of young men in Provo canyon finding an animal that appears to be big foot.  It's still not very conclusive if it really is big foot, but my Adam was enthralled with the idea of big foot. So, he decided to dress up as big foot.  He put on his sandals, then slid his feet into my sandals (which incidentally are wedges), just so he could be taller.  Then, he layered on one Jedi robe the right way, with the another Jedi robe the wrong way.  He finished his "disguise" by pulling the hood of the back Jedi robe up on his head, and then pulling the hood of the front Jedi robe up and over his face. Adam went stomping around and didn't get much of a reaction from anyone.  Before long, he had taken off his costume and put it all away.  At any rate, I am grateful for the creativity of my fourth child.  He is always interested in new things and he wants to find a way to participate and ingr...

In April we participated in our homeschool group's Geography Fair.  We went the easy route because we were throwing together our project at the last minute, and chose to do our project on Chile!  It was easy because that's where Jon served his mission.  So, we had a bunch of little items that showcased the culture there.  Jon and I traced the map on a long sheet of paper, and, okay, we colored it too.  We are such control freaks.  Oh well.  The children drew little pictures/icons of exports, produce, and other things that symbolized specific things we learned about Chile.  We got to the part and everything was set up trunk-or-treat style ... which was so great!  Although, our friends in the car next to us did their report on Argentina ... the sworn enemy of Chile! Then, came the presentation!  This was the fun part.  Eliza, Kate and I got together the day before the fair and wrote a rap for our presentation.  Then, we broke u...

I decided since I haven't posted about anything that we've done in the last few months, that I'd go back to Christmas time, at least for a little bit.  Eliza's and Kate's singing group, Shine Your Light Singers, sang at a church's Christmas Party in December.  Outside of the church, they had a small set up of a manger scene, with actors, and a small "petting zoo."  There were donkeys, and sheep, chicks, and bunnies. Poor, Adam stood by the pen for the bunnies waiting and waiting for his turn with a particular bunny.  Finally, when he was given the bunny, he was scratched and it startled him enough that the bunny needed to be put back down.  After that point, he waited and waited patiently for another turn, which he never got.  I was surprised by his persistence.  He stood there for easily 15 minutes waiting for another turn.  While, Andrew held a bunny for probably 8-10 minutes alone.  He sure got attached to that cute furry thing. Eli...

Our Christmas was so much fun.  In the past I've been ready well before Christmas, with present wrapped at the end of October.  Not so for this year.  I was shopping for presents the Saturday before Christmas.  And, after going out there in the masses ... I will not do that again next year!  Traditionally, our children have stocking stuffers and presents from us.  We don't do the Santa thing.  Just haven't ever wanted to.  Also traditionally, all of our children get similar items.  Most of the time it's because they all want what each other wants.  But, sometimes it's not the case.  This year, they all got lapdesks to use for school when we do our science or history in the living room.  (Of course, they each got their assigned color as well.) Traditionally, we all get toothbrushes in our stockings.  This year I got them all battery-powered toothbrushes.  I've never seen so many children get excited over a toothbru...

Last week we hit kind of a road block on Tuesday.  We were all being a little lazy, a little distracted, and a little unmotivated.  So, I packed everyone up and we went to the park!  Maryanne ran off and started playing, while everyone else was told that they needed to get their work finished before they could go play.  Somehow, it worked!  Eliza ran off to a pavilion to do her work in peace, and shortly after, Kate followed.  The boys and I stayed on our blanket and they each took their turn reading to me, then doing their math worksheets. When they were all finished, they ran over to the playground to play for a little bit.  Unfortunately, they didn't last very long.  It's still too hot here to go outside in the middle of the day (by this time, it was almost 12).  So, we packed everything up and headed out for the library ... a spot that has soon become a favorite for our family. In all, I felt that we didn't get much done, b...

Our first science experiment last week was about camouflage, specifically why animals have/use camouflage and how it keeps them alive.  In our science book there is this experiment that my children really enjoyed.  In fact, they asked if they could do it for our next Family Home Evening activity when we invite another family to participate with us. Step One: Dump out some M&Ms onto a paper towel and sort them into groups by color.  Count the smallest group and then take away as many as you need from the other colors to make them all equal.  (So, most of my children had groups of 9.) Step Two: Pick three colors of construction paper that match three of the colors of M&Ms.  Take seven papers from each of the three colors and tear them into six pieces.  Crumple those pieces and throw them into a laundry basket.  Line the sides of the laundry basket with six pieces of construction paper, two of each of the three colors. Step Three: Dump all ...

A few weeks ago, my Aunt Marilyn invited us to her house for a swim party to celebrate some of the birthdays in the family.  My children were ecstatic!  They can't get enough of the water. Maryanne must have known that I was not there to swim, but to take pictures.  She stood there and made faces for me.  Such a cutie! Eliza played and swam with Maryanne, while I couldn't get Andrew and Kate to stay away from the diving board.  They love it!  We haven't been able to do swim lessons this summer yet because we are galivanting all over the place during June, but come the middle of July we will be in swim lessons and my children cannot wait!  This was just a little splash to get their feet wet.

It's Adam's turn to clean the kitchen this week.  Inevitably that means unloading the dishwasher.  Check out his efficiency!  I can just hear the wheels in his brain going .... "Let's see.  Open all the doors.  Pull out all the drawers.  Take everything out of the dishwasher and put away.  Do a spin kick to push the drawers in.  And hit those doors closed.  Done and Done!" He literally spun and kicked the drawers in, it was quite hilarious.  So glad I have such a unique child.