Creative Play

When the big kids went back to school I had a rough time adjusting to just having the little girls home. The house was much quieter, which was nice, but suddenly the girls needed a lot more attention. Reading a friends blog reminded me that I used to actually play more with the kids; the kids used to get messy with projects. Poor Kate and Emily have missed out on a lot. We do a ton of reading but we don't have much messy time - even though Kate could sure use it. I've been trying to do better and here is one adventure. Painting with food colored cornstarch and water. Emily really loved dripping it all over her legs. Kate on the other hand preferred to keep it on the fingertips of one hand.

This picture makes me sad because I cut Kate's hair the other day and it is so much shorter. I miss her long locks (but not the crying that went with every combing). Can you see where she spelt her name on the cement, with a little help. Sorry the K is cut off. I just love these next two pictures of my baby. They are probably not great photography - but I just love that little face.

Clean up may have been the best part. Who can resist a hose?

Go Cougars

In September we all drove down to Utah to see cousins and for the boys to go to a BYU game. We spent some time on campus and had to buy a few BYU shirts. The boys loved the game and had fabulous weather. Before the game we even ran into the quarterback, Jake Heaps; The boys shook his hand. I guess they weren't good luck because he still had a pretty bad game, but at least the Cougars won.

They spotted Jimmer walking the sidelines.

Greg and his college buddy, Tom, enjoyed the game together while the kids played. Well, Andrew and Tom's girls played. Mack watched every minute of the game. We may not be a great team this year - but we are not fair weather fans. Go Cougars!

Painting

Emily's first time painting. She didn't eat any - that I know of.

We got real serious about covering the whole table.

Fun times with my girls.

Whales and Rainforests

Well it has been far too long. I won't attempt to catch up - at least not today. Here are some pictures from our last big trip of the summer. We drove up to the Seattle area to go to the temple, see killer whales, and check out a rainforest.


Here we are on our seven hour boat ride. Miraculously, all of our kids loved it. By the end of the trip everyone on the boat knew Natali by name and had discussed animals with Andrew. That boy loved the boat and wandered around looking at everything. After the first three hours has passed Greg and I started getting worried because we hadn't seen any whales and we knew we would have to turn around soon. The kids would be so devastated if this attempt to find whales failed. So Andrew and I went up on the top of the boat so we could have a better view. Suddenly, we spotted our first of dozens of whales.





It was amazing. Picture and video can't capture it because they were coming up on all sides of the boat. Large males, small groups, babies, it was awe inspiring. I could have watched all day.


My favorite was when you could see them under the water and slowly follow them as they came up for a breath. The whale trip was a big hit. We didn't loose anyone overboard, the kids made friends, and we all had an amazing experience.


Next we were off to Olympic National Park! We took a little hike to see snow and look for mountain goats (no luck). But we did see a bunch of deer and some beautiful scenery.


Then we went to Hoh Rainforest. Wow! It was like a different world with huge trees, strange plants and weird animals.


The kids did pretty well as we hiked around for two plus hours. There were so many interesting things to look at.





This was the biggest slug I have ever seen.


Roosevelt Elk - different from the kind you see in Yellowstone- they seamed out of place in the jungle.


Then we visited the beach. The kids loved it. Andrew and Mack were in up to the waist and happy as could be.


We found this starfish stuck to a dead crab. I was the only one brave enough to hold it.


It had been a long time since the kids had played on a beach. I always love visiting the ocean. There is something so magical about the power of the water. I love the sound of the waves and the feel of the sand. It made me happy to watch my kids explore and enjoy that magic as well.






It took us a while to get everyone sand free before getting back in the van.


On the way home we got a great view of Mount Raineer.

All good things have to come to an end. We had a wonderful summer and this trip was a great way to end it.

School Days - School Days

School has started again! Natali was so excited to get going again. She was ready to move to the other side of the school where the 4th and 5th graders have their classes. 4th grade has been great so far. She loves learning about our state's history, singing in the school choir, and her new teacher Mrs. Morris.


Mack was a little less excited to say good bye to summer, but he was excited to start 2nd grade with Mrs. Kinney. She was his kindergarten teacher and we were so excited that he could have her for second grade as well. He enjoys school but his favorite part is playing football at recess.


Andrew, as usual, was the most reluctant to start school. He originally told he he would not be going at all. I commented about how sad it would be that he would never learn to read all those animal books he pours over. Upon further consideration, he decided he would go to school till he can read, but then he won't ever go again. Luckily, he has loved his 1st grade teacher and goes to school without a fight everyday - a big thank you to Mrs. Parsons.


The big kids started school a week before Kate did and it was so hard for her to wait for her turn to come. She put on new clothes and fixed her hair before I went to help out in Andrew's class. When I came back she had changed her clothes (maybe more than once), taken out her hair, and was sprinkled all over with water, but she was raring to go. Her preschool is literally across the street. It is so convenient and she loves it.

The Animal Lover is 6

Our skinny little animal lover turned six and after waiting all day for his dad to get home from a business trip (flight was late) finally got to open his presents. He said he wanted animals for his birthday and he got his wish. Other than some much needed church clothes, everything was animals. An animal book, an animal puzzle, animal stickers, and animal figurines - so many animals.Here he is with all his animals. I was amazed as he opened presents and got more and more. Before his birthday he had a bucket half full of animals; it's full now.We didn't have time that night but we built a killer zoo the next day after school. Since then he has turned the front yard into the world and put each animal on their correct continent.

After a solid month of birthday cake in April, Andrew wisely chose cinnamon rolls rather than cake. Yum! The sour skittles on top were a little questionable.

Can you see the hole from his first lost tooth? It happened a few weeks ago and I just realized that I forgot to take any pictures. He realized it was barley loose in the morning and diligently wiggled and pulled all day insisting that it be pulled out that night. I figured it wouldn't be ready but he had worked hard and it popped right out.

Kate and I are going to miss Andrew next year when he goes to first grade. He is such a good little guy. Just today the mother of a classmate of his commented that Andrew is always willing to play with her daughter who is a little picked on sometimes.

He loves to learn. Whether it's about animals, the world, the states, or prophets, when he is interested in something he can be so focused and intense. His reading is coming along well and soon he'll be reading those animal books - not just pouring over the pictures.

When Andrew smiles at me I can't help but smile back - Happy Birthday Andrew!

Sleeping with the Lions

For Christmas Greg and I tried to think of things we could give the kids other than toys they didn't need. So we came up with an activity that each child could go and do with Greg. Andrew's big activity was "Sleeping With the Lions". This Zoo event seamed made just for Andrew - the hard part was waiting until April to do it.

On a Friday night Greg and Andrew loaded up all their sleeping gear and headed to the zoo. They got to watch some of the animals be fed, and they walked around at night with flash lights to see some of the nocturnal, animals like the binturong. They did a bunch of other things as well but since I wasn't there I will let Andrew narrate the pictures from their sleepover.
There was a baby wallaby. We got to see 'em hop and hop and hop.

We saw the binturong in the night and we got to see it for a long time. And we got to see it climb up a tree.

We made a box that had scents on it and it was butter and vanilla. And the lions smashed mine and it broke in half. The lady told us that the one female lion liked butter and so she smashed ours because it had butter on it.

I was at the lions cage and I got to sleep there. Daddy said they would make a lot of noise but they didn't.

I liked sleeping there because we got Gatorade and in the morning we got yummy breakfast.

We got to see a lion's skull and after that we got to go see stuff in the dark.

I loved it!