zoo!

When I told the kids this morning that we were planning to go to the zoo, Joshua asked, "Mom, do dromedary camels have one hump and bactrian camels have two?"  I said, "Yes!"  D and E stared at him in amazement.  "Wow, how does he know that?"  "Well, he picks up on words quickly and I've talked to him about camels several times."  Not bad for still being a two-year old! I should also add that when he played in the sand area at the zoo, he took a small  bucket, filled it with sand (it was wet because of the recent rain), dumped it upside down and said, "Look!  I made a dromedary!"

Gibbons

Dromedary Camels

Corn Snake

Flying squirrel.  There is another one in her pocket and they are brothers.  Their names?  Orville and Wilbur.

Boys indoors

These first pictures are from early April, when I had to take down a shelf so that a plumber could access a certain drain... the boys loved having lots of boxed to play with!  They made forts for some small plastic bears. 

In the above picture, you can see the colored bears going for a ride. 

Then they were dropped in the inner part of the fort. 

More "boat rides."  This one extends down the hall and around a small pantry. 

forgetful

I forgot that they also gave awards for music.  D learned to play several songs on  the recorder (he passed the purple level  - they earn a different colored piece of yarn that they tie on their recorder for each piece of music that they master, mimicking the idea of colored belt in karate).

The music teacher is on the left, with a colorful dress.






White belt: Hot cross buns
Yellow belt: Gently Sleep
Orange belt: Merrily We Row Along
Green belt: It's raining, it's pouring
Purple belt: Old MacDonald had a farm

school awards

Today was the last day of school for D and E!  They had an awards ceremony this morning, with several awards given.  First, each student was recognized for his/her academic performance, as well as a recognition of a specific Bible character trait (E was gentleness and D was steadfastness).  In addition, one student in each grade was given the patriot award, which was for overall character.  D received this award for 3rd grade and E received it for 2nd grade!

too much shopping

Garage sale season has arrived, and I took the boys to a neighborhood garage sale this morning.  We went to several, and they did really well, but by the end they were getting tired and bored.  When we about done and back in the van, we saw a few more garage sales.  Nathan said, "Mom, it just looks like baby clothes."  Very clever way to let me know he wanted to be done!

potty training and play lands

I thought I would update quick with some good news: Joshua is potty-trained!  We started over 2 weeks ago and he has been doing great from the start. Our bathroom looked like a library for a while, but he loved all the extra attention and books (along with skittles as a reward).

I would also like to share a funny story about Joshua that happened this morning.  I was reviewing some previous Bible lessons about Abraham and Isaac before we moved to Jacob and Esau.  When I mentioned that Abraham was called out of his home to a new land, Joshua piped up, "To the play land!"  Maybe a play land is like the promised land to a child. :)

One other fun tidbit is that I spent a weekend with 4 high school classmates about 2 weeks ago. We all met in Omaha and did some shopping, both at regular stores and a kids consignment sale.  Fun times!

We also just set up a 15' trampoline and the kids all love it!  We decided to get a new one as our old one was starting to fall apart.

D and E are done with school on Friday!  David is now "around the world", which means he has passed all his timed drills in math.  He started with addition, then moved to subtraction, multiplication, and division.  They have 26 drills (one for each letter of the alphabet) per math function, and have to get 40 questions right in one minute in order to pass to the next letter.  He just completed division letter Z!

 I am looking forward to having them home, although I'm sure there will be some adjustment.  I also tried a new hair do for E - this is not her, but I did this hawser braid like this and it turned out cute.

Road trip

A few weeks ago, we took a trip to OK.  We had a grad student along (who rode with us in our van), since he gave a presentation at the water conference.  It was a work trip, but the kids and I tagged along. We enjoyed great hospitality and visiting with our friends there.  Friends from church hosted us, and we had their entire upstairs, which consisted of 4 bedrooms and two bedrooms.  It worked out wonderfully, especially once our kids started to get sick.  The ones who weren't throwing up could sleep peacefully, and we took advantage of the bathrooms to give baths and rinse out clothes and sheets.  It was a very busy trip - we had an activity or social gathering almost every morning and afternoon, plus eating with a different family for every noon and evening meal.  With almost everyone we talked to, we just picked up where we last left off.  It was a blessing!  Derek gave a keynote address on Friday night and was encouraged by the level of engagement of the audience.  Saturday, our van got a flat tire, and our hosts graciously helped us get it to a repair shop and loaned us their van until ours was fixed.  (Derek was several hours away at a field site.)  Again, in God's providence, we were provided for through the help of others.

I am thankful to say that the trip back was uneventful.  The kids were not feeling back to 100%, but no one threw up in the van.  When we got home, we had a few more surprises: our garage door did not work, a breaker was tripped, and our internet didn't work.  We think lightning caused a power surge while we were away.  We had to get a new garage door opener mechanism, but our desktop still doesn't communicate with the internet.  After a large time investment with both our internet provider and a dell customer service representative, we haven't been able to figure out a solution.

During this time of unpacking and various phone calls, I did not have much extra attention to give to the boys.  Here are some of the things I found them doing while: putting icecubes in the toaster and listening to it sizzle, pouring water in our jelly jar, markering their faces, and flushing various items down the toilet.  The last one needed special attention, so after pulling out several toothbrushes, a night light and other things, we had a call maintainece.  They were able to retreive toothpaste and a stapler. 

Thus, reality.

Since then, we've been getting back into our regular routine and things are pretty much back to normal :)

Everyday happenings

It's been about a month since J sliced his chin open falling up some stairs. I thought he might need stitches, but we ended up just treating him at home.  It's still redder than what I thought, but it's not looking too bad.

 David got a new 24" bike for his 9th birthday and has been loving it!  A 21 speed.

The boys helped decorate their daddy's  birthday cake. 

Preschool craft involving mixing primary colors to make secondary colors, inspired by the book Mouse Paint.

The back of E's hair that I did for her choir concert.  She has a small, cute bun on the top of her head. 

Blankets left over from previous "boat rides" turned into a tent/fort.  They had a "watch bear" guarding the entrance. 

Today, Monday, involved going to a play center with a friend.  I'm so glad she was there because our van died in the parking lot!  Derek rode his bike to work (in 12 degree wind chill) and had important meetings all day.  Thankfully, my friend stuck around with me for over an hour waiting for the tow truck, then took me home.  But I couldn't get in.  I had left the garage door opener in the van and the front and back exterior door were latched shut with a hook and eye:

  

So I couldn't even get to the interior where my key would work.  So, she drove me to the repair shop so I could open the garage door opener and enter through the garage.  It was a lot of in-and-out, moving around of carseats, not to mention almost 2 hours past lunch time... but God provided and I am thankful! 

We ordered a set of books  and I let the kids open the box, not realizing it was full of packing peanuts.  The younger boys especially delighted in throwing them all over, cutting them up, etc.  Here, J is helping clean up the mess. 

Boat rides

The boys have really been into "boat rides."  They use about every blanket we have in the house and line them up across various rooms, or around the table, or down the stairs.  The longer the boat, the better. They take trips to the zoo, to grandma's house, and lots of other places.  

This is "down a waterfall."  

Spring Concert

The older kids had their spring concert March 21, and they did a great job!  The theme was "Praising God, our Creator."  Elizabeth's favorite song was "Mountain Maker" which is a Hawaiian song, and they were able to sing the chorus in Hawaiian. (It also was an echo song, which added to the reason of it being her favorite.)

Besides singing, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders recited a long passage of the creation account. Some of it they all said in unison, and for some it they had groups of 3-4 students.  David's group was the last, and he did an outstanding job (he was the only one out of the group that I could hear).

David's music teacher also contacted us and asked if we would consider letting him audition for our city's boy's choir.  She said, "He has a vibrant singing voice, and is always the first to learn the music, memorize the words, etc."  We decided not to pursue it, but it was a nice compliment!


Elizabeth is on the top, second from the right.









David saying his Scripture memory from Genesis.


David: Second row, third from the left

Spring

Pink Panther

This morning at breakfast, Derek was explaining to our kids about a 5 minute video clip he had seen about cells (trailer for Unlocking the Mystery of Life).  He started off by talking about how a cell has a nucleus, and how it contains the blue print for other cells.  When he asked if they had ever seen a blue print, Elizabeth pipes up, "Yes!  I saw it on the pink panther!" (I will admit that the episode she is talking about is pretty funny; it's on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-xBAyRREJ4). He proceeded to talk about DNA, messenger RNA, transcription, translation, amino acids, and proteins. David was captivated by it all."Wow, it's like a factory!"  Elizabeth said, "Can I watch pink panther?"

Us

Derek and I went to they symphony Saturday night and enjoyed some beautiful music. The first piece was by  Beethoven and it featured a solo violinist; the piece was 25 minutes long and the musician did an outstanding job! After the intermission, they played another lovely, lengthy  piece, but by Brahms.  I love how grandiose his music is, with all of the big chords. I had been battling a bad cold/cough/congestion and had lost my voice, so it was great to just sit back and enjoy.  The scarf I'm wearing is one that I picked up earlier in the day while shopping with my mom and sister ($4)!

Autumn's birthday

My mom and sister came down over the weekend.  Autumn tuned 16 and we went shopping at some second-hand stores and a few western/boot stores. 

The cake I made for Autumn's 16th b-day. I thought it turned out pretty well!

The kiddos and Autumn

Here's a song I made up that David "rapped" out to her: 

Here’s a song dedicated to our Auntie Autumn

It isn’t hard to do because you are so awesome.

You’re smart, you’re funny, and you play with us, too.

And of course you look good in FFA blue.

There’s boots, spurs, and don’t forget the bling,

We know it’s just a part of the cowgirl thing.

You have a love for God that shines through and through

You are caring, kind, thoughtful, loyal, and true

We love you, you’re special and couldn’t be replaced

And since you are here, we’ll give a big embrace!

We’ve come to the end, but have one more thing to say:

We wish you a happy 16^th birthday! 

preschool crafts

 I thought I would take a few pics of past projects before they "mysteriously" disappear.

Marble painting

This was a good activity for Nathan to put in order the different lengths of green pieces. I think his favorite part was adding the snow, though.

First attempt at weaving and I was surprised at how well he did on his own!

Feb. 2013

We've been doing a lot of preschool craft projects.  Here they are painting paper plates brown for their owls.

I never know just what he will be wearing at any given moment.  Now, if he would put those gloves to use and help with the dishes! :)

Writing his name for the first time!  He did a great job!

Elizabeth had her siblings put on a play, "Moses."  She dressed Nathan up as Pharaoh's daughter.  The play was very well done! 

finished owl craft projects

Sleepovers

The 3 boys all share a room, which has been working out well.  However, a few weeks ago, the younger boys started waking up when David wakes up, rather than sleeping for a while longer like they used to.  We still didn't let them come out, with the intention of helping them get back into the habit of sleeping longer (because they really needed it!). Before too long, they were having "sleepovers" in the mornings, where they would crawl into a particular bed (it changed from day to day), and gather all the blankets/pillows, etc. and have a party until it was officially time to be awake.  They would have so much fun!  But, it got to be too much fun, and often the laughter would be intermixed with crying, (sometimes a party would be held in the bed of a child that was just starting to wake up)... so we had to say "no more."  If they want a sleepover, it has to wait until after breakfast.  I will say that overall they have adjusted to the time change fairly easily, though!

Winter

This pretty much sums up what life further up north is like.  We recently had a day when it was beautiful out and we even had a window open a little bit...then the next day we were hit with several inches of snow.  It prompted me to think about the Children's Blizzard of 1888.  The kids had yesterday (Mon) off because of the snow and we went to yet another new sledding place.  We had a great time, even though they liked other sledding hills better.