Holiday Baking

Our last boys club of the year was a big Christmas Party and celebration of the life of Neil Armstrong. I was going to use these trays of flour for the kids to use to make craters and do an experiment about the moon. However, we never got to it...but my girls sure did! After boys club while I tried to do some baking for a HUGE live nativity going on in Salem, my girls had a terrific time getting messy in my leftover flour. I guess fingerpainting is about all white flour is good for, huh?

It took me about 2 days to find all the flour to clean it up, but these pictures were worth it! Julianna looks like she is wearing a Santa Claus beard!!!

If you have any other fun and less messy ideas for a "tactile experience" then please let me know!

Holiday Break Play

During the Christmas Break, Dorathy had a enjoyable time playing with her American Girl Dolls. One day, she decided she wanted to set them up and take pictures with my camera, so I let her! She did all of these on her own, creating props, and having a lovely experience. I love seeing what my kids come up with!

American Girl Dolls in their PJ's all ready for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Toothy pictures

Angel's short bangs haircut she gave herself. I recently finally got them trimmed the same length.

Angel is so delighted that she has several shirts, pj's and underwear that have her name on it! She will always have an easy time getting paraphernalia with her name on it!

Courtney has lost 4 teeth in the Month of December! All she wanted for Christmas was her two front teeth...but she got them in time for New Years! It's a good thing that Courtney makes a dollar for each tooth, because she stole all her sister's chocolates and had to buy her a new box as part as her punishment. Unfortunately, it took ALL her tooth money. So she's broke again...until she looses more teeth!

Coming Home to a MESS!

Today I had a primary meeting. I usually have them in the morning when Scott is home to watch the kids. But we had to meet tonight because some of my presidency was leaving to go out of town for the Holiday.

My new goal was to have meetings be 1 hour instead of 2 hours. We didn't quite make it! But 1.8 hours is better than 2 right? We managed to shave off 20 minutes.

As I was getting my shoes on to leave and go back home, I got a frantic call from Dorathy. She said that Julie had gotten into some ink and that it was EVERYWHERE. As soon as I got off the phone with her, Christopher called me to say that Julie had spread a think pasty black ink all over the rug, all over the chairs, couch, and floor. She had gotten it all over the dog, and all over herself. (I didn't take any pictures: I was too upset, and anxious to be sure it wasn't a poisonous substance that I had to run her to the hospital for since it was in her eyes, and she had eaten some of it as well!!!)

I am very grateful that my friend Ann came in with me, because it was very overwhelming to see such a mess. Ann took over helping clean up and helping the older kids get ready for bed, so I could get Julianna in the bath!

Julianna was covered with it. Her face was literally black. All you could see were two blue eyes peeping out. I tried to wash it off of her, but it wouldn't budge....only smear. It felt waxy and super thick, so I thought it might be costume makeup. I got out my Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup remover, and sure enough, it dissolved when it came into contact with that! It was the only thing that seemed to make any headway. She even had it in her hair...I was worried I would have a raven haired Julie! Her cute clothes are now ruined, and she had it over almost her entire body.

Julianna has very sensitive skin, and her face had broken out in a really bad Ezcema-like rash. So after I washed it all off of her, I got her lathered up in some herbal coconut oil based cream. Hopefully she'll be better in the morning and not all broken out into hives. The only black left is in the creases of her hands. Her nails are all black, and one of my area rugs is ruined. The dog is still leaving greasy black marks wherever she rubs her back. I'll take care of that tomorrow. :(

I was upset with Christopher for not watching his little sister the way he knows he is suppose to. He was watching a movie that HE wanted instead of one that Julie enjoys, so she went off and got into mischief. My school supplies closet was left unlocked, and she'd been digging in it for something to entertain herself with. She got into more she bargained for, and it looks like she was trying to rub it off herself, and that's how it got spread so badly.

As a natural consequence, Christopher will help clean up all the mess, get some extra chores, be grounded from TV, Computer, and Screen time for a week or two, and be forbidden to babysit for a while until he can prove himself reliable and responsible to be thinking about his sisters instead of only himself.

I am grateful for this learning experience. It is teaching Christopher the importance of watching his little sisters instead of assuming they'll be fine. And it's teaching me to give SPECIFIC instructions and expectations to my son when I leave instead of just assuming that because he's done something 50 times well, that he'll know what to do. It's also important for me to take breaks to check up on my kids when I'm gone...even when it's for something as important and short as a presidency meeting.

I wish we could have met at my house, but I don't have any private room where I can shut the doors and have peace and quiet for us to plan. If we'd been here, the kids would have been all over us. I just wouldn't have been able to concentrate. I'll need to go back to hiring babysitters for a while, I guess. The problem is, that most of the available babysitters are Christopher's age, but it is not appropriate to have a girl here close to his age babysitting. That makes it hard to find someone!!!

I am glad this was over something minor like black face paint, and not over anything irreversible, deadly, or poisonous. Christopher is very upset with himself. He's been storming around the house crying and calling out in despair, "How could I have been so STUPID? I can't believe I DID THAT!"

He's beating himself up so much about it, that it's hard for me to be still upset. Everything's okay now, I just need to buy a new rug and scrub som spots on the floor. Tonight he was crying, "I wish TV had never been invented!" Because with his ADHD-type personality, it is very hard for him to focus on more than one thing at a time. He is very distractable, and when any screen is on he tends to get sucked into it while the rest of the world fades away. I usually LET them watch TV when I leave home, because I figure it helps keep them safe to be all entertained in one room. But that doesn't work if the toddler is bored, and the teenager isn't "home" inside his head!

AAARRRGHHH! I hate coming home to a mess!!!

But thank you Lord, Oh thank you for blessing me that all my kids were safe and well!

Play-dough Play-date

Play-dough at our house is a BIG deal. Whenever we have kids over to play, they almost always ask to play play-dough. We have 30 containers of colors, and hundreds of accessories. I've been collecting them for over 10 years! I love play-dough so much, it keeps the kids happy for hours! Courtney loves it more than any other child. She's so tactile, I think she could be a sculptor. I've used it SO MUCH in our homeschool. It's great for keeping little hands busy while I read books aloud.

Here is Julianna playing with Play-dough for the first time. I thought she might finally be old enough not to eat it, but alas! When we made the play-dough look like ice cream, she couldn't resist!!! Here she is sticking her tongue out and saying "Blah!" after giving it a cautious lick.

I'm going to enjoy play-dough a lot more now that I don't have to pick it out of the rug. Now that we have laminate, just sweeping it off the floor is such a breeze! :)

The Merry Month Of May

The Merry Month of May has been busier than any other spring in my memory. If our years get consecutively busier, I'm not sure I'll stay sane!

Yesterday, our T.V. broke for good. I don't intend on buying a new one anytime soon! Maybe at Christmas. Maybe never! There are just TOO many expenditures! 1. Remodeling: $2,000+. 2. My Traffic Ticket: $300.00 3. Garden and Yard upkeep: hundreds and counting. 4. Scott's new business: hundreds and who knows how much for insurance. 5.Saving up for Summer Vacations: ??? 6. My root canal & crown: $647 The list goes on....

In the meantime, this will be a great opportunity to give TV watching a good break while we enjoy the work and play of summer. We can still use the computer for our occasional netflix on Friday "Movie Night". We had already canceled our Dish Network account, because we had moved our TV in remodeling, and the company wanted to charge us $100.00 to put in and attach a new cord so we said, NO WAY! We only watched PBS, anyway, and so we're not missing out on much. Nowadays, anything you want to watch can be found online.

The only family members allowed to watch TV daily are the younger 2, and it will be good for them to break the habit. They will learn to entertain themselves without the screen.

Julianna's two new favorite words this week are "NOOO!" and "MINE!" She turns 2 years old tomorrow! I can't believe it! For her birthday, I am considering taking away her pacifiers. If she cries all the time with them, I might as well break her of the addiction and have her be crying without them. At the primary activity yesterday she screamed and banged her head like crazy. Everyone was staring at me. Most of them have no clue that this is normal behavior for her. *Sigh*

Julianna woke up before 5 a.m. today. She wakes at the first sign of light through her shades. Her natural sleeping schedule tends to go from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. This morning she was so tired and cranky at church, Scott had to take her out 4 separate times while she was kicking and screaming. She's such a little firecracker. Whenever the older kids got close to her to share snacks or crayons she began screaming, "NO.....MINE!" and would hit or kick. It's going to be quite a journey ahead of us....

There's that little curl in the middle of her forehead!

Angel has made up a new game. We play it when I'm trying to get something done, and she is anxious to get going to that "something else" I've promised we can do "later".

She said, "Mom, let's play "How about now?"

I asked her what game that was, "How do you play it?"

She said, "It's when I ask, How about now? and you answer "No!"

So every few seconds Angel would dutifully ask "How about now, Mom?"

At first I'd say "NO, not yet....but really soon! I just need to...."

But she'd interrupt me saying, "NO Mom, you're suppose to just say NO."

So after that, I said "No" whenever she asked "How about now?"

After about 5 minutes of me answering "No." She said, "When are you going to say YES Mom?...you can say "yes" now!" It was very cute. I'm glad she's found a way to stay happy when I can't take care of her needs right away. She's done this "game" with me several times now.

It reminded me of the old Smurf Cartoons:

"Are we there yet, Papa smurf?"

"Not far now!"

This experience also reminds me of the sweet innocent Pooh Bear movie where Christopher Robin explains how you do "just nothing".

Even when Julianna is "helping out" she wants to do things her own way. Can you feel the angst?

Angel has been totally off naps the last few months, but she sometimes gets really tired during the day. Sometimes in the middle of the afternoon, she'll ask me, "When will it be night time? When can I go to bed?" Angel and Julianna are now sharing a room, and they've done pretty good at learning to get along at bedtime. I'm glad that I can sometimes put Angel and Julianna down together. But more often, I put Julie down first so that I can spend time reading books to the older kids.

Here is Angel with her favorite Yellow "Dolly". She is explaining her primary class to me. Angel loves to have an audience! Today her sunbeam teacher was called to be our new Bishop! She's really going to miss him!!!

Today we got to attend Dorathy's art classes' Open House. It was at a church in our community, and we got to see each of the arts students' entire portfolio displayed. It was beautifully done. I feel very pleased with the progress Dorathy has made this year in her artwork. I will definitely sign her up again next year. I'm thinking about letting Courtney participate too, even though she'll only be 7. She spends as much time as Dorathy pouring over her art work. She has been improving immensely in the last few months, and I think she's ready for an instructor. I definitely don't have anything to teach my kids when it comes to art!!! I'm excited that they love it, though~

What beautiful budding artists I have!!!

Here is Dorathy at her favorite occupation: READING BOOKS! This month, she has devoured several of Judy Blume's series (the ones I approve of). She is reading the NON-ABRIDGED version of Black Beauty. Here she is picking up The Scarlet Pimpernel. She's also read the kid versions of Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and The Secret Garden. I'm excited to share my love of good literature with her!

Christopher has also hit a new record with his reading, sometimes reading a huge novel a day. This month he finished the Fablehaven Series, he read all of the Percy Jackson Olympians Series, he finished the Leven Thumps Series, and also tackled several stacks of non-fiction. He still loves Science, but he has been enjoying writing a "Chapter Book" about Sonic X, the Hedgehog. He confessed to his cousin last week, that the idea of being a novelist would be fun. This comes as quite a shock to me, since he has spent most of his life declaring enmity against writing. Now if he decides to like penmanship as well, I will rejoice!

In our homeschool this month, we've continued our studies of colonial America. We finished the novel "Surviving Jamestown". We will be moving on to the 1700's soon.

We are doing a unit on the Ocean. We're having a ton of fun with all the experiments. We've studied buoyancy, seaweed, pigments, fish air bladders, and sonar. We made a big obstacle course through the house and the kids had to navigate it as dolphins by using only clicks and whistles. It was challenging!

It's been a good homeschooling month. I've been telling the kids, though, no summer break for them! They began whining and complaining "NO FAIR...everyone else gets a big long break, why don't we??" Until I explained....our homeschooling is a lifestyle. We don't stop learning just because the seasons change. Besides, we take breaks year round. And our school consists of mostly doing what the kids love, anyway!!! If I told kids that school was canceled and there was no school for the day, they would continue to read books, do science, draw and write, etc....nothing would change except I'd be doing chores instead of playing "school" with them!

I love my life!

What my kids think of me

I posted this on facebook, but I wanted to post it here as well...

And I am officially giving up the nicknames for my kids. It's just too hard for me to remember. Most of the people who read my blog, know their names anyway, and it was confusing for them. *phew* I'm relieved!


It's interesting to hear my kids point of view!


(Christopher, 10 Dorathy, 7 Courtney, 5)

1. What is something mom always says to you?

Chris: I love You
Dora: Go do this! Go do that!
Courtney: you have to have a time out!

2. What makes mom happy?

Chris: Doing my chores quickly without complaining
Dorathy: Giving you hugs and kisses, doing my school stuff without being asked.
Courtney: When I clean my room

3. What makes mom sad?

Chris: When I ingore you, especially when you're asking me to do my chores
Dora: Fighting and calling bad names
Courtney: When I don't do everything you say

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

Chris: when you tell me funny jokes
Dorathy: When we play hide and seek and you hide like, in plain sight because you don't fit anywhere!
Courtney: When you tickle me and give me zuberts

5. What was your mom like as a child?

Chris: loving and fun
Dorathy: Creative and Friendly
Courtney: you were sneaky and lied about eating your vegetables

6. How old is your mom?

Chris: 37
Dorathy: 35
Courtney: 30

7. How tall is your mom?

Chris: 5 feet
Dorathy: 6 feet
Courtney: 40 feet tall

8. What is your mom's favorite thing to watch on TV?

Chris: Howl's Moving Castle
Dora:Family movies & General Conference
Courtney: Church on TV

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

Chris: Cleaning up and then watch movies with Daddy
Dorathy: Computer stuff and reading a good book
Courtney: Do stuff on the computer

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Chris: Being the most wonderful Mom in the world
Dora:Writing Books
Courtney: baking

11. What is your mom really good at?

Chris: Loving children and having fun and taking care of babies
Dora: Being mom and helping us and cleaning
Courtney: cooking

12. What is your mom not very good at?

Chris: lying
Dora: Drawing
Courtney: cleaning up and cooking at the same time

13. What does your mom do for her job?

Chris: taking care of the family
Dora: Taking care of us!
Courtney: cooking

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

Chris: homemade soup
Dora: vanilla ice cream
Courtney: Peppers!

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Chris: surprising us with hamburgers for dinner
Dora: Doing something nice for us...like cleaning our room for us!
Courtney: when you put something in our room, like a surprise

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be

Chris: the little mermaid!
Dora: You're like a cross between Pocohontas and Mulan!
Courtney: My little pony

17. What do you and your mom do together?

Chris: be with me!
Dora: have kid of the day time together (A date with just Mom)
Courtney: bake bread!


18. How are you and your mom the same?

Chris: we're both human!
Dora: we're both girls.
Courtney: cause we're girls!

19. How are you and your mom different?

Chris: I'm a child, and you're a grown-up
Dora: Your hair is long, mine is short
Courtney: I'm blonde,your hair is black
.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Chris: you take care of us and love us and give us kisses
Dora: you help us with things
Courtney: when you give me hugs!

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?

Chris: he's your husband!
Dorathy, he's funny when he picks you up!
Courtney: When he tickles us

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

Chris: home!
Dora: Grandma's house
Courtney: to visit her Mom

Chore Time

Every Morning at our house, the kids have a list of chores they need to complete before we start school for the day. In the winter they all have to help bring in wood the fire since our house is heated by our wood burning stove. If only they smiled this big everytime they got wood! They love it when it gets warm enough that they don't have to bring in wood anymore.
Duckie is enjoying feeding the chickens every morning. Lucy enjoys trying to steal the chickens' food. It is her favorite past time.
Here is Einstein helping with the chickens. As the biggest kid, he has the most chores. He has to bring in the most wood, but he also has to feed and water the Rabbits. Louisa gives them pellets which only takes a few minutes, but Einstein gives them all hay which is more work and takes much more time. He hauls a big heavy wagon around the yard loaded with hay and water for each of the 10 or so cages. He's building some good muscles! He struggles with the fairness of the situation, but it's the lot of the eldest child!

I am grateful that my kids have the opportunity to have chores with real responsibility. They are doing a great job with it, and I am very very proud of them!

Never, ever assume!

Four kids in the Four Corners of the USA!

When it comes to kids, never EVER assume they know something! Be willing to teach them over and over and OVER again.

I have rediscovered this principle this week. A few days ago I was horrified to find out that Angel has NO clue how dangerous and sharp knives are. She's almost 3 years old and I thought she would have picked this up by now from all my other lectures to the children.

wrong. wrong. WRONG!

I was doing the dishes, and Angel was right next to me. There were some knives on a cutting board next to me. She has never shown even the slightest inclination to pick a knife up before. But this time she picked up a big steak knife saying, " Mommy look!" And then stabbed it on her forehead right above her eyeball. I nearly screamed. But I collected myself, collected all the knives WAY out of her reach. I began my very very dangerous lecture that I thought she knew. Thank goodness the knife didn't break skin. You could say she's only two years old (almost 3) and just doesn't know better....but she's always shown so much good common sense above her age level, that maybe I was over estimating her abilities by leaving those knives within reach. At least I was right there next to her!

ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION:

A few days before Christmas I saw Duckie laying next to the Christmas tree. She was staring at the outlet by which the Christmas tree was plugged in. I stepped closer to see what she was doing, I nearly fainted in panic! She was repeatedly sticking some tiny thin plastic toy in and out of the holes in the outlet!!!! I am so glad it was plastic and not some other material, or my sweet daughter might no longer be with us. Nevertheless, I was thoroughly freaked out that she acted as if she had NO CLUE that outlets were dangerous. On to my dangerous: don't touch! lecture again. I know I've taught her this before, but obviously, once is NEVER enough.

So if you are reading this and you have young children, please take the time to reaquaint them with any household dangers: poison, outlets, knives, cold cereal, whatever. The whole kit and caboodle. Once is NEVER enough.


I first learned this a year ago when our family was on vacation. We were driving in the dark toward Carlsbad, New Mexico and all the kids were eating cold cereal for dinner in the back of the car. I asked them if they were done eating because they were playing around and goofing off, and Duckie answered, "What did you say? I can't hear really well because of these Kix stuck in my ears."

I thought she was joking. She wasn't.

Ensued a family emergency that has since become a classic family story that all the kids laugh about. But it wasn't funny at the time. Duckie stuck one kix in each ear, because she thought it would be funny. But then she couldn't get them back out. We tried with flashlight and tweezers to grab them, but they just fell further in. We arrived at the hotel in Carlsbad at 11 p.m. and tried to flush them out with water. I think it would have worked if Duckie had cooperated, but there was no way to convince her we were trying to help. She was in pure panic mode. So after talking to Manly's Dad who is a doctor, we elected to try and correct the problem at a Doctor's office in the morning instead of pulling an all-nighter at a hospital emergency room. Sure enough, next morning, the Doctor had no problem flushing the kix out of her ears with warm water. She was bribed with two lollipops to hold still. One lollipop for each ear. You can ask her about it today, and she will cheerfully tell you the whole story.

Because of that fiasco, we almost missed any chance to see the Carlsbad Caverns that we had driven so far out of our way to go see. The Dr. appt took so long that we got back in time to go with the very last tour of the caves before they closed everything down for the night.

Here is Manly holding Angel at the end of the long Carlsbad Cavern hike. We're in the carvern here and the photo is totally dark...you can't see any of the cool formations behind them.

That same morning, I found out to my chagrin who had taught Duckie to put kix in her ears. Einstein had done it first! Only difference is that he was able to get the kix out of his ears before we found out about Duckie. If he hadn't told me about it, I would never had known. Things you THINK your 9 year old son would know. So we drilled them "What do you put in your ears?" "Nothing!" they are supposed to reply.

Just a few months after this scenario, you think Duckie would have learned her lesson. But I found her sticking popcorn kernals up her nose! They almost got stuck, but we got lucky that time. When I asked her why she did it, she said she was trying to smell the popcorn smell on them, and when she stuck them up her nose they felt funny.

I think I'll stop asking "Why?" The answers from children never satisfy!

And if you ever happen to ask Angel why she did anything...no matter what it is, she'll always answer, "I don't know!" in the silliest tone of voice.

Here the whole family is at the famous UFO museum in ROSWELL, NM