Loads of fun times on vacation

My parents have lots of toys from when I was a kid - you know, the kind that are making a come back! My kids love to be in the playroom and make a huge mess with the toys and then struggle to clean it up. Almost every day they will do this and I keep trying to tell them to not make the mess in the first place. Some day they'll figure that out.

My dad offered a paying job for the kids - pick the pebbles out of the grass edge and put them back in the rock area. He found a small pail and told them if they filled it, he would pay them $5. Ben filled one, and some of the girls did partials so they got partial pay. It was something for them to do and helped Gaffa.

We enjoyed looking at their blooming flowers. It was amazing to see the change over the week we were there. When we arrived, the trees were just starting to show green. By the time we left, it was very green. I wish I had taken a picture to show the difference but it was really neat.

Gaffa put in a rope swing when my older sister and her oldest daughter and grand-daughter were out visiting earlier in April. My kids had a great time pushing each other and swinging through the air.

Gaffa takes very good care of his lawn, and the kids enjoy getting rides on the mower. He even let Ben do some mowing all by himself!

Naomi enjoyed coming outside with us as well. 

Visit with Grammy and Gaffa

We were invited to have a visit with Grammy and Gaffa. The nice thing about home schooling is that we can go whenever we want. This visit was a little different - Grammy was diagnosed with cancer and had her first chemo treatment April 4. We went out the week before her second treatment. She was a little tired but mostly her normal self. The kids enjoyed lot of reading and playing and hanging out. We did not go to Nauvoo because the kids just wanted to stay at Grammy and Gaffa's house.

Ben brought his blue wagon to ride down the hill in the backyard, but Gaffa's wagon was better because of it's fat tires. Maybe we should change out our tires.

Ben helped Gaffa around the yard. It's nice to have things to help out with while we are there.

One of the children brought me this nut shell. I was totally amazed and showed it to my dad. He sees them all the time so he was not impressed, until I pointed out the heart shape. I am keeping it to put it on my key chain as a memento of our visit. 

Naomi enjoying the Luna chair and her toys. She's still not mobile so it is nice to set her down and not worry about the stairs.

Reading fun

It has been awesome to watch Domonique learn to read. Now she can do it on her own and she loves to read to her little sisters. She thinks of herself as one of the big guys because of this newly acquired skill. She is growing up.

Camdilyn enjoys making faces at me.

Road Show for the youth

Our youth had their road show. This year both Marissa and Ben were able to participate. It was nothing like road shows when I was a kids. They went to the Stake Center for one day. They were split up into different groups. Each group practiced their skit together. Everyone was invited to watch the production in the evening. Unfortunately, I was late with the girls but we did make it. Fortunately, I had a new video camera to record. Fortunately, we were able to see both Ben and Marissa's skits. It was very well done and we all enjoyed it. All my kids talked about getting into acting classes and so forth, on the way home. Good experience!

This is the only picture I took because of the lighting and the video camera and Camdilyn wanting to be in my lap.

Experiments Abound

Ben has decided to be a chocolatier so he has to practice, right? He has begged for days to let him make his own chocolate. I talked him into making fudge (which is what you see on the counter) but that wasn't enough for him. So, today he finished school early and I let him work in the kitchen making his own chocolate. He had a great time and it was fun watching him.

Kemiah begged to do another experiment from her Kitchen Science book. So we froze water in a balloon the other day and today we took it out to play with it. First we sprinkled salt on it to see what would happen. Then we dropped food coloring on it and watched some more. It was really neat to watch and she was a very happy girl.

It was neat to see the color go inside the ice ball.

Snow?!?!?! Really?!?!?!

Yes, it snowed today.

I guess it's just making up for the lack of snow

we had during the winter months.

I am just guessing that the seasons are shifting.

Some day, we'll have winter in July,

and summer in December.

Just a thought.