The Gilsons

Piano pieces

2011-03-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Andrew's cake

2011-02-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

Andrew entered the cake decorating contest for Blue and Gold Banquet tonight. The theme was heroes. So what do you do with a Christopher Columbus ship cake that decides to fall apart in the making? You turn it into the hill that Nephi retrieved ore for building a ship.

Where I do school

2011-02-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Each week the kids check in with their advisory teacher. One of the questions for this week's check in was to take a picture walk of where they do most of their schooling. The kids really got into this question so we decided to put it on the blog. Here's their combined walk.

We do school EVERYWHERE!!!

This is our kitchen where we go over the calendar, work on grammar and recite poetry over breakfast. Each meal (when we think about it) we go over the food pyramid. Throughout the day, we check out our history timeline and find things on the map.

This is our dining room where we store all our supplies. We do group science and history at this table. Even Alex and Calvin will sit at the table and color the same pictures we do while mommy reads. These are our science lapbooks. I (Andrew) am holding my crab minibook. I (Izzy) am trying to show you my labeled crustacean.

We both spend 30 mins. at the piano almost daily.

We sit on the couch every morning and listen to a chapter from a chapter book. We just finished the Railway Children and now we're reading Little House in the Big Woods. This is also where you'll find me (Andrew) reading library books or any book I can get my hands on. (Izzy) There are a lot of fun books in the library box.

Or I'll (Andrew) read downstairs on the rocker. Or do my copywork, maybe some math.

When it gets too noisy out there, I'll do my schoolwork in my room. My bed is a comfy place to work.

Or I'll do my work on mommy's bed. Sometimes I go to ask her a question and end up staying there.

We both do a lot of cooking too. Izzy's specialty is waffles, eggs and toast, and yummy desserts. Mine is toast. I did make some really good chocolate chocolate chip cookies the other day. Oh, they were so good. We also like to help make bread because then we get to snitch some dough.

This is where we do math and write to our teacher. Right now we're doing Aleks math (3 month free trial). I (Izzy) am really excited about the QuickTables. It's the same as doing math facts but I get to earn fun games.

I also like to hide away in my room to do my copywork and read.

I want to be a beekeeper

2011-01-30T00:35:00.000-08:00

Here's one of the field trips from this past fall. A lady in our local homeschool group has her own beehive. Pretty cool huh. She posted that she was going in to replace the slides so she could extract honey and asked if anyone wanted a tour. How could we pass up the chance.

First thing, Andrew and Izzy got suited up. Gotta make sure there aren't any openings for the bees to sneak in.

Styling suits.

Catherine showed the kids what the slides look like with the beeswax on it. This one has had the honey extracted and as much of the beeswax intact so the bees don't have to spend time building. They just have to do some repairing and spend more of their time producing honey.

And here are the drawers that the bees have made their home in. They're very calm before being disturbed.

Here's Andrew and Izzy getting a closer look.

She's showing them a full slide covered in bees.

Now it's Alex's turn to be suited up. Calvin didn't want a turn but I was o.k. with that.

Don't you love the hat.

Catherine was so good at making sure the kids got a close look at everything. Here Catherine is trying to find the queen to show Alex.

Alex holding a slide.

Very fun field trip and now very interested in having my own beehive.

Itching for a road trip--Remembering Seattle

2011-01-23T12:36:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been itching for a road trip. I LOVE the snow, but this road trip idea wouldn't be as much fun in the cold. So we'll just have to wait. For now, I'm finally blogging our Seattle trip from last June I think it was. Glen had a few days of shadowing while the kids and I got to tag along to see friends and my sister and nephew. I miss my family. Doesn't this look like so much fun and make you itch for a road trip too?

We spent the night at Glen's parents in Wilbur (they ended up running the motel all last summer) and then stopped at Dry Falls on the way to the freeway. Geologists claim this was a giant waterfall during the last ice age.

Then we stopped by Soap Lake. The minerals in this water are supposed to have healing properties. So far I haven't had any luck healing my dry hands, but it's always worth a try. Plus, water is always fun for kids to dip in their feet.

We stopped at an overlook. I think this is the Colombia River out in the middle of nowhere. Across the river is a petrified forrest.

This was our first snow for the year. We were amazed at how huge this mass was in June. Gotta love the mountains.

That's a waterfall in the background.

Our Seattle trip had a side trip to Bremerton. We brought our friend Nataly with us. This was her find. Look how little that crab is. The legs were so tiny and perfect.

That's Glen and Henry. Love the view.

Off to the right of where Glen is standing, there was a long pier that we explored down to the water. There were a few fishermen and lots of fun things to see over the edge. We saw tons of these jellyfish just swimming around. Amazing. We also saw barnacles and tubeworms on the side of the edge. The tubeworms were a favorite. We tried to find a stick to so we could see it retract and I can't remember if we were successful or not. But it was really cool to see all these fun creatures. We've been talking about marine animals the past 2 years for science and we've finally this week gotten to barnacles but that's another post.

Another day of our trip included a trip into Seattle to check out the Seattle Aquarium (amazing!!!) with my cute nephew and wonderful sister. This is my nephew, Harper. Isn't he a doll?!

Alex and Harper were so cute together that day.

There were lots of really cool things at the aquarium including tubeworms that we could pet and see retract and lots of other water creatures to touch like starfish, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and some sea plants. Not sure where all those pictures went, but it was a really fun day.

So fun to be with family.

Where did Harper and Alex go? We found them hiding in here.

Then we had to say our goodbyes and our family went on a cruise out into the water to see Seattle from a different viewpoint. The kids enjoyed being on a boat, but the excitement didn't last long.

The Space Needle

There's Seattle.

After our Seattle trip, we traveled through Mt. Rainier National Park on our way home. Absolutely gorgeous!

Check out the proof of beavers in the area.=)

Looking forward to visit Seattle again this summer. Anyone have room for a family of 7?=)

Izzy's drama performance

2011-01-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

Last semester Izzy was involved in CYT (Christian Youth Theater) and to conclude their class, they performed a medley titled "Any Dream Will Do." Izzy LOVED this class and is signed up again this semester. She's the cute girl, 2nd from the end in the red dress and white shawl. She said she was nervous during their practice, but the night of the performance, she was nothing but excited. She did such an AWESOME job!!!

I'll take care of you

2011-01-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

Some old pictures I found trying to catch up this blog. They were too cute not to share.

Henry is 1

2011-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? I sure can't. My baby is 1 already and I can probably count on one hand how many times I've posted about him. Guess I've been a little bit busy.=) Well, our little man has become a little climber. He climbs on the dishwasher.

He climbs on the fireplace.

He even cleans out my bottom drawer to make a special cozy spot for him to climb in.

He has even mastered climbing up and down the stairs. He's been starting to stand unassisted and walks along furniture like a pro. He gets so excited yet I'm not ready for my baby to grow up.

And now he's 1.

Happy Birthday Henry.

Updated birthdays

2011-01-14T13:20:00.001-08:00

Andrew turned 9 in November. He likes chess and loves mentos and junior mints. Perfect!!!

Alex turned 5 in Dec. She LOVES fairies so we made fairy houses for her cake this year and it was so much fun. I was worried how much we'd need to help the kids with their decorating projects, and was prepared to spend the whole time helping. But nope. Calvin had daddy helping him and I just made sure supplies were stocked.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-08T11:29:00.001-08:00

Ummmm...so it's been a while since we posted anything. We are still alive. Yes, we are. Jamie's up on Mt. Spokane with Andrew and Isabel for their first day of snowboarding lessons. Alex and Calvin are watching Callou and Henry's in bed. Hopefully sleeping. And I was on the computer and thought I ought to post something on here.

We had a good Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa Gilson came down and spent Christmas Eve with us and stayed the night to participate in Christmas morning. My oldest brother, Forrest, and his family came over later in the day and we all ate dinner together and had a good time.

The pictures on the side of the kids have been updated. They're from this fall...kids haven't changed too much since then. Andrew turned 9 in November and started with the Bears. Alex turned 5 in December. Hard to believe she's getting so big. Henry climbs up and down the stairs though he hasn't shown any real interest in walking.

Jamie's been listening to a homeschool conference of some sort. We listened to one of the speakers last night while I played MarioKart Wii. She was pretty good, sounded a lot like John Taylor Gatto. I think we're going to stop calling what we do 'homeschooling' and begin calling it 'home education'. Not like, HomeEc, though. =) Just that we don't want to be confused with schooling which is about training kids to become good consumers and think the way some expert in some think tank somewhere thinks they should. If you haven't read any John Taylor Gatto I suggest reading Dumbing Us Down or The Underground History of Public Education or Weapons of Mass Instruction. They were all very interesting and a little scary.

Birthday Week for my Boys

2010-08-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our little man turned 3. Tomorrow Glen turns ... well older than 3.=)

Calvin doesn't NEED any more toys so we racked our brains for what we could do for our little man. He LOVES anything that has to do with big machinery: tractors, backhoes, diggers, bulldozers, trucks ... everything. So, we found the perfect gift for him. He's going to go for a tractor ride on Uncle Loren's tractor but haven't been able to put it on the calendar yet. So what to do while we're waiting? Summertime is the perfect time for some summer activities. Unfortunately, the morning we woke up to find that our usual 97 degree weather was only headed to a high of 84 with thunderstorms. So we made of it what we could. He opened his first present: bubbles. Everyone had their own bottle of bubbles and we spent a good amount of time as a family blowing bubbles in the backyard. Next present: a container of sidewalk chalk. So we all went out front to draw pictures with Calvin's new chalk.

Next present: Calvin now has his own frisbee. So we all went outside to throw the frisbee until the thunder scared Calvin indoors.

We then waited to open his final present: a slip'n'slide. Unfortunately no pictures, but the big kids had a blast running and sliding while the little kids had an adventure trying to crawl under the sprays of water. Such a fun day for summer activities to keep us busy through the rest of summer.

Then of course we had cake. Keeping with the tradition of creative cakes, my plan was to just make a dirt cake. Just a chocolate cake with chocolate pudding and oreo cookies rumpled together in a bowl with possibly some gummy worms to make it even more exciting. I asked Calvin if he wanted a dirt cake and he told me exactly how he wanted it. Funny thing was, he described last years cake perfectly. This was his birthday last year.

Calvin's words: "I want some dirt in a dumptruck with a little guy sitting in the dumptruck and a shovel in the dirt." Do you see all of that in this picture? Now how in the world does a 3 year old remember EXACTLY what he had for his birthday last year. He's amazing!!! So, I decided a bowl of dirt wouldn't be good enough. So I found my cake online (www.familyfun.com) and took 4 kids with me to the grocery store to get everything for Calvin's and Glen's cakes. I got home from the store with almost all of my supplies. I had failed to pick up a cake mix for Calvin's cake. Whoops! So I flipped through Aunt Karen's cookbook and found a Devil's Food Cake recipe. I didn't see a problem with making the cakes in 3 bread pans instead of the 3 rounds her recipe says. But unfortunately this is what came out. All 3 sunk in the middle.

But guess what? Flip it upside down, use just the end of it for the top of the excavator and vwa-lah. It worked. Calvin got an excavator (or what we would call a backhoe or digger) cake.

He saw the final product and was THRILLED! I can't wait to surprise him with a real tractor ride. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALVIN!

And tomorrow, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLEN!

We are still alive!

2010-07-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone was wondering. =) Jamie has not been in much of a blogging mood lately and I'm really not much of a blogger so our family blog has been a little slow for the last couple of months. We did get everything painted and ready for move in (we painted every wall in our house except the kitchen and bathrooms) and moved in June 5th. We then left on the 6th for a trip to Seattle to visit some friends and so I could do some residency touring. While there I visited Madigan Army Medical Center, the Naval Hospital in Bremerton, and the joint base Lewis-McChord Clinic. We also made a visit to the Seattle Aquarium where we had a lot of fun, especially Izzy.

We've found that being homeowners keeps us very busy. We've been painting kids furniture to match their decor, we've been working on the yard, gardening, and trying to get moved in. Jamie's done a great job of getting our house organized; we're pretty much down to just the family room left to go.

I finish my program tomorrow and then have about a month before I start working at Fairchild. The summer's going fast!

Workin' on the House

2010-05-29T21:21:00.001-07:00

We've been steadily working on our new home before we move in. I finished the garage on Wednesday as well as the living room and the closet in the MB. Yesterday we got the family room mostly painted and headed into the hallway before running out of paint. Today we finished the hallway, found out we don't like the paint color we were going to use for an accent wall in the family room (though it will be lovely in the laundry room), and got Andrew's room mostly painted. We've picked out a different color for the family room and a color for the accent walls in Andrew's room and we'll get some samples of those on Monday and see how they look.

We're getting really close to being done and ready to move in. The carpet cleaner is coming on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll have all the painting completed by then and we will definitely have the house cleaned up. It's been a busy couple of weeks and it looks like it's not going to stop anytime soon.

Dare I?

2010-05-06T10:45:00.001-07:00

We close on our house next week (YAY!) and Izzy and I have different ideas of how we want to decorate her room. (What is it with Izzy posts lately???) She doesn't want a purple room but a Pixie Hollow room. So I ask what is a pixie hollow room? She describes her walls as being the colors of a sunset and a tree with lots of fairies. Her description was too long to keep up with so I said, "Draw me a picture." She did also mention that if I thought it would be too hard, she could do it herself.

So this was her masterpiece. She says she can paint better than she can draw so do I get crazy like I did with our birthday cake decorating and let her do it or would that just be taking their creativity a bit too far?=)

How do you homeschool with a new baby?

2010-04-29T20:39:00.001-07:00

Well, you don't.=) Or at least not up to the same speed as before the baby or in the same way as one would think of schooling to begin with. People keep asking me, "How do you do it?" And my simple answer is "we don't." Right now, we're doing what we can when we can but the kids are still constantly learning.

Some things we've done this past week:

1. Play, play and play. The weather has warmed up (except the past few days got rainy and chilly, but the new game Izzy created still got these kiddos outside playing). The backyard has been very appealing. There are multiple climbing cherry trees in the backyard that I'm truly going to miss. I'm so amazed at how high even Alex can climb. The other day, from 8:30am-5:00 pm (I finally had to make them come in) they played Izzy's game called Treetops and Bushberries. They did take a lunch break, but quiet time was skipped so everyone could go back outside to play. Riding bikes around the house, making swings with ropes. Their imaginations has gone crazy lately.

2. I started watching a movie called Veer-Zaara. It's one of those cheesy Indian musicals with a fun love story, clean as anything and all with subtitles. I'm not sure which arabic language it was in but the kids joined for part of the movie and were keeping up with the reading. Izzy kept asking me questions like "What are ashes?" So we talked about cremation and stuff like that.

3. Izzy's in charge of the dishes this week and last night turned lazy so nothing got done. This morning, I didn't feel like cooking so I told them to take care of their own breakfast. (Lazy, I know.=) All the bowls were in the sink so I told Izzy it looked like she needed to do the dishes. Instead, she asked if she could make waffles. What? I guess she's been in the kitchen with me enough to know where things are, how to measure, etc. but I usually supervise. This morning, it wasn't going to happen so I told her to just go for it. She asked for the recipe (we only do from scratch waffles around here) so I wrote it down. (Maybe I should've had her write it down. Note to self for next time.=) Then she went and made the waffles. I did end up helping with the waffle iron. I'm not sure why because her first waffle came out perfectly. But by then I was so impressed, and it was fun to be in the kitchen watching her cook.=) She's 7. Holy cow!

4. We had some books at the library ready to be picked up. (Now if you haven't heard of being able to check out your books online, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CHECKING IT OUT (excuse the pun.=) Being a homeschooling mom, I have my lists of books for the kids to read so I get online and reserve them. The librarians do all the hunting, put them on the shelf by the checkout counter. All I have to do is walk in the door, pick up my books, checkout and go. 25+ books took me less than 5 mins.) Anyways, since I didn't have the 3 little kids with me, we had a library search lesson. Andrew wanted to read some more Magic Treehouse books (he finished all 7 that day after we got home. Sheesh! Can't keep up with that boy.) and Izzy wanted to find some books that were in the same series as the "Faeries" book she got for her birthday. So we had a lesson on how to use the computer to find specific books and books on the same subject since they didn't have her series. We learned how to figure out if the books were available at that particular library and then learned how to go and find it. (Can't make the librarians do all the work.) Izzy found a book called The Book of Dragons. The part I thought was hilarious is that it was in the Children's NONFICTION section. How a book about dragons gets into the NONFICTION section is beyond me.=) Anyways, this is her new favorite book. She takes it everywhere and reads when she can't be playing outside. This is a girl who knows how to read, but will only do it if she's interested in the subject. She is enjoying the first Harry Potter book but is savoring it while the Book of Dragons is almost being memorized.

5. Lots of board games go on in this house. Andrew especially LOVES games. Settlers, Ticket to Ride, Battleship, Card games, you name it. Some of these games I'm amazed that these 2 big kids of mine can really play them. Looking forward to Alex being old enough to play too and then they could enjoy these 3+ player games and mommy can go read a book.=)

6. We did do a history lesson this week, except that it turned away from the original lesson planned. With each history chapter, the kids get their own black and white map that they label. This week, the chapter was on the Ancient Americas. The map had the 2 American continents and Antarctica at the bottom. I checked to see if they knew what these continents were called and then we checked to see if they remembered all 7 continents (that's where playing the game of Risk is handy, another favorite game of Andrew's.) When mentioning Australia, I told them that I used to live there so we pulled out the globe and I showed them Alice Springs (smack dab in the middle of the continent.) Then we talked about flying from there to Hawaii, then to Florida where I lived after that. Then we saw Cape Canaveral on the globe so I mentioned the Kennedy Space Center and how I watched the Challenger explosion from the playground in 1st grade. So we got on youtube.com and watched how a normal shuttle launch should look and then the Challenger launch. I was amazed there weren't as many words of shock and horror as I was expecting. The radio control tower or whatever it's called just said in a very calm sounding voice, "We've had a major malfunction." NO KIDDING!!! Anyways, see how our history lesson veered way off the subject. But it was fun and interesting and learning was taking place.

6. And of course there's reading. Right now our library book shelf is filled with books on Machu Picchu. There's also a couple of books from the Ambleside book list (a Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. Check out http://amblesideonline.org/ for booklists by year level.) Since I didn't get around to reading as many of the books out loud as I wanted this year and it doesn't look like I'm getting to them very fast, I went ahead and checked out a bunch from Year 1 for them to peruse at their leisure. Columbus, Buffalo Bill (Andrew enjoyed finding dress up clothes and became Buffalo Bill for a few days), Peter Pan, the Velveteen Rabbit (which we did end up reading out loud.) Glen also reserved a bunch of books for Andrew to read so he can stop rereading Harry Potter (although he's on his 4th time reading through the series. Lots of spells going on around this house.)

7. We've been blessed to start attending field trips again. Last week we went to the Fish Hatchery with CVA (Columbia Virtual Academy). Tomorrow we're going to see Jarom Watts and his bubble show. He'll teach us a little about bubblology (google it and you'll find that Jarom set a record in 2009 for making the longest chain from interlinking soap bubbles) I'll post more some other time. Along with field trips, the kids have a once a week drawing class and gymnastics class. Andrew is also taking piano lessons and somewhat tries to practice everyday. Some weeks are not as good as others, but he's doing very well and Izzy is interested in starting after we get settled into our new house.

I guess this post was more for me than for you. Even if our days aren't looking like we're getting much done, a lot is still going on around here and learning truly is taking place. Looking back on this time later in life, we won't miss not doing one more history lesson or science lesson. We won't miss that we missed multiple days of piano practice because the house needed to be quiet for the baby to sleep. We won't miss that we forgot that we're supposed to be working on flashcards. But we will miss that we didn't enjoy this precious time with our little baby. Yes, the time I have to teach them is short, but if I can't fit it all in, life will go on. I've heard multiple times that it would be easier to just put them into school. Trust me, the thought has crossed my mind, but we do have our reasons. As long as my children know how to read, know how to learn math, and continue to love to learn, then I will have succeeded as a teacher. The most important thing for them to know is that they are children of God and that Jesus is their Savior, then everything else will fall into place.

Izzy turns 7

2010-04-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

And the tradition continues. Here is the barnyard cake Izzy chose to decorate for her birthday.

As she was cutting and placing the twizzlers on the silo she asked if she had to put it all the way around the back. I told her it was her cake so it was up to her. She opted not to and I used this as a teaching opportunity to point out that decorating cakes is a lot of work. Her response: "It sure is, but it's my favorite part of my birthday to get to decorate the cake." Aren't those animal cupcakes (cow, chick and pig) the cutest. Check out http://familyfun.go.com/ for other cake ideas and instructions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZZY! WE LOVE HAVING YOU IN OUR FAMILY!!!

No broken bones

2010-04-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

It's been wonderful having the kids spend the entire day outdoors using their imaginations, running, riding bikes, digging and building things in this beautiful weather we're having. I checked outside to make sure everyone was doing well when I came across this picture.

Seeing this dangerous tower I asked Izzy, "What are you doing?"

"I'm climbing on top so I can throw the ball over the roof easier."

"No you're not," I say.

"But I'm wearing a helmet."

It amazes me that she's never broken any bones.

Arts and Crafts--Jump right in

2010-04-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Izzy LOVES arts and crafts. She randomly found this turkey MONTHS ago in one of our craft books. I finally picked up marshmallows just for this project and the gumdrops were from Alex's birthday cake but we never got around to making it. The other day Izzy said, "Mom I think we have all the supplies, can I go ahead and make this?" Sure! Jump right in. So off she went, following the directions to a T and vwallah. You see here her beautiful turkey apple.

Gotta check out the backside.

Ingredients:

Marshmallow head

Chocolate chip eyes

Spaghetti sticks to hold in feathers--although we found we needed to use a toothpick to get the original hole in there. She wouldn't stand for just using toothpicks. It all had to be edible.

Carrot shreddings for side feathers and

Gumdrops for back feathers.

We've both learned that if she wants to be able to do her arts and crafts, there's probably not much point in waiting around for mom to be ready because there's always something else that needs to get done. She just needs to jump right in and I need to remember to just let her.

Have I fallen off the planet or what???

2010-04-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

It's all because of this cute little guy.

I have decided that househunting, homeschooling AND a new baby are just not a good combination. But we ARE surviving (even if Henry's sleeping schedule isn't.) Now that we've found a house (YAY! We close May 12th. Hopefully posting more on that exciting news soon.), the next month should be a little less hectic from the running around all over town. Here's a quick peek though.

A brief update on the guy keeping the busy even busier.

Henry is now 3 mths. old. (Where did the time go?) He smiles all the time almost anytime someone looks at him. We finally fished the baby toys out of the garage this past week and that's been fun seeing him trying to grab things and use his hands. He loves to stand (not by himself of course). He gets so excited when standing on someone's lap. He makes these cute grunting noises to show how strong he is. So because he loves the standing so much, we've started letting him hang out in the jumper which doesn't last too long because he drools and spits up all over his belly which makes it a bit cold in there. I'm sure you're bored of the reading, so here's the pictures. Aren't they adorable!

Henry Carter Gilson--well worth the wait!

2010-01-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

IT'S A BOY!!!

Only 12 days late, he's finally here and was definitely worth the wait. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 in long

First here's the pictures and then if you want to read the birth story you can scroll on down.

The smiles before the "fun" begins.

Smiling because the hard part is over.

The best daddy in the world.

Our little Henry.

Big brother Calvin.

Big brother Andrew.

Just chillin'.

Many of you know that the waiting game was drawn out very well with this little guy. Not due til Jan. 1st, we kept hoping for a 2009 baby but wanted things to unfold on their own without intervention. On Christmas morning, I woke up around 1 or so with light contractions hopeful but wanting things to wait until after our family Christmas dinner. By 4:30, I was finally able to fall asleep and unfortunately the contractions disappeared completely.

I had a dr.'s appt. on New Years' Eve where they could've induced, but we decided to let things hopefully take their course. A week later (Thurs., Jan. 7th) at my dr. appt., I had an ultrasound to make sure everything was looking o.k. and we had the dr. strip my membranes in hopes something would happen before our scheduled induction that Sat. My in-laws got to our house the day before and they were as ready as we were for this baby to come. Unfortunately, on the way home from my dr. appt., Glen started to not feel well and came down with a 101.7 fever that evening. Andrew had the same thing the day before which only lasted 24 hours so we figured we'd still be good to go on Sat. Mid-Friday afternoon when his fever was still hanging around, I sadly made the phone call to say that we'd have to delay our Sat. induction. My dr. told me to call on Mon. to schedule for sometime between Tues.-Thurs. Luckily nothing happened before then because Glen ended up being so sick that it wouldn't have been ethical for him to enter the hospital and he wouldn't have been able to even stand up to help during the delivery. I was ready to have my mother-in-law escort and keep me company if need be. So, Sat., Sun., and then Mon. I made the phone call expecting to go in on Tues. Nope, my dr.'s schedule was too full so we'd have to wait til Wed. So Wed. FINALLY came around and 6:30 a.m. we headed to the hospital. It still didn't feel real due to all the previous disappointments. Not until they had me hooked up did I feel like we were really going to have a baby.

7 a.m. we started the check-in process, inserting the iv (not hooked to anything so I could walk around during contractions), etc. 8:30, Dr. Hechtman came and broke my water (the only inducing my body apparently needed.) Glen and I took a walk around the hospital and around 9:00 the contractions started to come. We headed back to the room where the contractions picked up. That's when history repeated itself and 2 hours later and after 2 pushes at 11:04 a.m., a beautiful little boy entered this world. Of course we had a girl's name picked out, but were still undecided on a boy's name. (All of our children we chose to keep the gender a surprise til the birth but we usually had names ready to go.) So now that we new our baby was a boy, time to narrow down the choices. Sebastian, Logan, Henry and Ammon were among the ending contenders. Henry Carter was a big possibility, but we weren't sure it was fitting. So that night I called to ask the kids what they thought. Andrew was already sleeping so I asked Izzy if she liked the name Henry or Ammon. She quickly said Henry. Then I asked Alex (who was in the room) and I think that since she heard Izzy, she was quick to say Henry as well. All night I kept trying on the two different names. Glen ended up going home in the middle of the night due to a headache and the uncomfortable couch at the hospital so he heard his mom asking Andrew the next morning what his opinion was. Andrew was quick to say Henry as well. Later that morning, Alex saw Glen and said, "Daddy, where's Henry?" When Glen told me that story on the phone, that was the clincher. The kids had already decided so Henry Carter it is. It fits the royalty theme we've been sticking with for names (except Calvin but that's still a pretty fun name.) And that's your story little man. Welcome to our family Henry.

I'm all caught up ... Ready to have a baby now

2009-12-31T21:37:00.000-08:00

Whoa! Am I really all caught up on blogging? Baby Gilson #5 is due tomorrow which is now only a few hours away. We've been hoping this baby would come early but I think he or she has been waiting patiently for me to finish getting everything done and ready. I finally finished packing the hospital bag a few days ago. All the baby stuff is finally pulled out, washed and got finished being set up TODAY (although I'm missing a few parts for the baby swing. I know I've seen it around here somewhere.) Yesterday Glen found the baby blanket box so now we have a blue blanket and a pink blanket in the hospital bag. So what will we name him/her? Well, we almost have it narrowed down ... but other than that, I can't think of anything else I need to get done before this baby comes so just in case the waiting has been for me to be ready, I think we're finally ready now. The next post will be pictures of our newest addition when he or she decides to finally come. These siblings are ready and ask almost daily if the baby is coming today. We even have a few still begging for baby to be twins.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-31T21:12:00.000-08:00

Just some random pictures to show we had a fun Christmas.

After our dress up and acting out the Christmas story, Izzy wouldn't get rid of her Mary costume.

The kids gathering the presents from mommy and daddy's room to put under the tree.

Christmas morning we take turns opening presents and of course Andrew couldn't stop reading one of his new books.

We started following a poem a year or so ago that goes:

Something to read,

Something to wear,

Something to play with,

And something to share.

Each kid gets a present for each part of the poem. The something to share part resulted in a load of new games which has created some monsters around here. It's been especially bad this week since I've banned the tv and computer games (due to too much complaining that there's nothing to do whenever I'd say no to watching a movie. It's amazing how much they're finding to do without these electronics although I'm looking forward to bringing it back just enough to say let me take a nap.=) Anyways, Christmas day was spent with family playing games almost all day long. The kids watched a lot of movies when the games were over their head (this was before the electronics ban.)

It was a wonderful Christmas day filled with great family fun and yummy food. Glad everyone survived being squished in our tiny house. Anyone up for another game day???

Birthday sledding

2009-12-31T20:40:00.000-08:00

We love the snow!!!

The snow had all melted at our house so we ALMOST decided against bringing the snow gear for our weekend at the grandparents house. But having it all neatly packed in our snow bin box in the closet, it was just another box to quickly shove in the car so we brought it along. We got to their house excited to see that the whole area was still very much covered with beautiful white snow. Except Sat. morning I was disappointed to look inside our snow box to find that Glen had accidentally grabbed the box that was supposed to go out to the garage (filled with too small snow clothes and all the extras that we've held on to for years.) But when Izzy asked to go outside to play in the snow, I rummaged through and found some stuff too big but perfect enough to keep her dry and happy. Later that day, Glen got ambitious and decided to see what else we could get out of our random box. Apparently all of our odds and ends were enough to suit almost everyone up just fine. Calvin was sleeping and Alex just wanted to watch Alice in Wonderland. I finally talked her into trying on some of the too small clothes just enough to go outside and see what the big kids were doing. That's when she saw how much fun the sledding could be and she joined in. We had such a wonderful time sledding and what a perfect way to spend a birthday. Happy Birthday Alex!

Even Ginger enjoyed following the kids down the hill.

Proof that even big and pregnant, I can't pass up a chance to go sledding. I didn't get to go as often as I wanted, but walking back up that hill was enough to keep me from the fun for this trip.

Our 4 year old

2009-12-31T20:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, still a little behind catching up before this new baby comes but I'm almost there (and hopefully so is baby.=)

Ever since Andrew's birthday, Alex has been asking when will it be her turn to decorate her birthday cake. Well, mid-December, it was finally time. She picked out a castle cake and loves the color purple so here is her masterpiece.

She loved her beautiful cake and I loved having her help. Happy Birthday princess.

We spent the day up at Grandma and Grandpa Gilson's house playing her new games (Ladybug and Pop Belly--so fun). Then we broke out the snow gear and went sledding. To be seen in next post.

The many hats of a snowman

2009-12-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

When my parents were in town, we woke up Sunday morning to a good dusting of snow. First snow and afternoon church=we'd better live it up while we can. Izzy was the first one out there determined to build a snowman and everyone else had fun just playing. (Isn't this a fun backyard. That's why we chose to rent this house.)

She was the only one working on the masterpiece for a while but finally got some help from grandpa and mommy.

We had a tough time coming up with eyes. Our first set were some red berries and we thought that was the reason for the scary, grumpy face, but I think the final consensus was it was mostly the eyebrows although the red berries did add a devilish look to him.

Now for the hats. Dress up boxes are wonderful aren't they. You can turn frosty into a Christmas snowman,

or a military snowman,

or a firesnowman,

or construction snowman

or an Afghan snowman (that's where this hat came from anyways.)

With snowmen, the possibilites are endless.

Snowboarding

2009-12-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

Glen took our niece and nephew snowboarding for their Christmas present and Andrew got to tag along for some extra school.=) They got a 2 hour lesson and the rest of the day to explore the bunny hill. They all had fun and Andrew came home asking if he could go again the next day. "Sorry kiddo, tomorrow is Sunday."

"What about Monday?"

"Daddy has to work."

"Well, can Mommy take me?"

I think he had fun.

Despite sore rear ends, they're still smiling.

Andrew's piano recital

2009-12-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

Have you ever played music on a $25,000 piano? This baby was gorgeous. Andrew started taking piano lessons in Nov. and his teacher, Sis. Allen said he'd be playing in the Christmas recital. He played Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, something else, and Old Macdonald (that was his favorite). He's progressing quite well and has been enjoying playing Christmas music (mostly Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas). It's fun to hear music being practiced almost daily and a joy to see him enjoying himself. Of course there have been enough "Do I really have to practice today" but as long as he has something new to practice, he's mostly good to go. The best part about Sis. Allen is she comes to our home for lessons. I don't have to cart the other kids out and wait for his lesson to be over. It's wonderful and she's great.

Making sugar cookies??? Who's idea was this?

2009-12-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Izzy saw sugar cookie decorating items at a friends house and REALLY wanted to do the same project at home. Sure! No problem ... or so I thought. One day we made sugar cookies. The kids LOVED the dough, but when the cookies were done, they'd lost their appeal. They ended up sitting around the house and nothing happened to them. Then for FHE, I thought we should try again but this time use cookie cutters to make shapes. Now that was a stressful evening and there was no way decorating was going to happen that night.

The Young Women from church had called up asking if they could come over one evening and do some service. PERFECT!!! Some extra eyes to let these kids explore their creativity and I could leave the room anytime I needed to.=) Interestingly enough, the pictures Glen took were with me in the room, but I did take advantage of the situation and enjoyed the peace in our home while the kids had fun.

2009-12-22T09:23:00.001-08:00

Don't you wish it could still be so easy to fall asleep as this???

Getting ready to take family pictures

2009-12-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

My parents came into town for Andrew's baptism and were able to stay through Thanksgiving. We went up to Glen's parents house to spend Thanksgiving with both sets of grandparents. So of course we had to get a family picture. My favorite part is the trying to set up and the funny faces to get us there, but I think the final product turned out great in the end.

Ice skating classes

2009-12-16T21:46:00.000-08:00

One of the bonuses of the virtual academy we're involved in are the funds for pretty much any kind of class we're interested in. This semester the kids are taking gymnastics, a drawing class, a 5 week ice skating class and Andrew has started piano lessons. I'm feeling a bit busy chauffeuring to so many activities, (well piano lessons have been a blessing traveling to us) but it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. We'll see how much we keep up with when this new baby comes but for now, we're getting as much out of it as we can. Make sure to scroll down for videos of Izzy's ice skating.

The ice skating class they took was a mom and tot/homeschooling class. Since I wasn't getting out on the ice (not only do I have this pregnant belly, but someone's gotta watch the 2 little ones on the sidelines), Glen got to skate with the kids their first lesson and then grandpa got to join for their 3rd lesson. It was awesome and the price was amazing. They were both scared at first, but Andrew caught on quickly and loved it.

Izzy on the other hand waited til the 3rd session to have any fun. The first class she had amazing balance, but could hardly move anywhere and would get so frustrated when she fell. The 2nd class she stopped 20 mins. before it was over and came and laid on the seats until class was over. The 3rd class, she didn't want to go but my parents were in town and my dad convinced her that she could show him how well she was doing. That was enough to get her to go for that day but she made sure to say she wouldn't be going again. She started out hanging on grandpa until it was time for class to start and the parents were in one class and the kids were in another. It was like night and day. She was keeping up and even surpassing the other kids while skating to the other side. Who was this girl? Needless to say, she finished up the season and enjoyed herself.

Here are the videos of Izzy ice skating and Andrew came in at the end of the 3rd video for just a brief moment and a mini video for the 4th. Enjoy!

And there's Calvin enjoying being held by grandma. For some reason that day he must not have felt well because he's never really cuddly like that. But I have to admit it made it nice to be able to watch the other kids skating.

After our ice skating lessons that day, we took grandma and grandpa on the tour of Spokane Falls. It's so much more amazing in person.

And then we had to stop at the random wagon park. We'd stopped and played the week before and Alex was terrified to go down the slide. We'd even gotten Calvin to go but she still wouldn't budge and I wasn't up for climbing up there to help. This time she had grandpa there to help and she would only go down if grandpa was there to slide with her. I have to admit it is a pretty steep slide.

It's always fun when grandpa (and grandma) comes ...

2009-12-16T20:52:00.000-08:00

It's been such a blessing to be here in Spokane with Glen's parents close (2 hrs.) But we got extra lucky this year when my parents were able to come out for Andrew's baptism and then stay through the week of Thanksgiving. We LOVED having them here and the kids keep asking when we're going to get to go see them. Someday!

Calvin LOVED his Grandpa. It was so much fun to see the two of them together.

And the long wrestlefests that only dads and grandpas can do.

But even grandma got in on the fun.

For Family Home Evening, we went miniature golfing. I know this was definitely Calvin's first and maybe even Alex's. It was definitely wonderful to have the whole indoor course almost to ourselves. We split up with 4 boys and 4 girls. Calvin and Alex pretty much just had fun hitting the ball with their clubs. Izzy didn't have the patience to wait around so she just left us girls (my mom and I) and went ahead with the hole in front of us. As long as she stayed only 1 ahead of us, I was good with that.

Calvin learning from our pro.

He liked his way better.

This was probably at the beginning of the course before Izzy ditched us. She had so much fun though and even got a hole in 1 that night.

The last hole was a sad time. Calvin didn't realize he wasn't going to get his ball back. He watched it go ...

Then sat and was sad til the boys group showed up.

Alex had seen what happened to our balls and she refused to play the last hole until Grandpa showed up and helped her.

After mini golf, my dad, Glen, Andrew and I played a 12 min. game of laser tag while my mom watched the other 3 kids in the play area. Izzy wanted to play laser tag too, but I thought she'd probably get scared shooting guns in a dark room. She probably would've been o.k., but too late now. We had a blast and at first thought 12 mins. was going to be too short. Us older (and pregnant) folks got tired out quickly and were thrilled when the timer finally ended the game. But it was a blast!!!

Andrew's baptism

2009-12-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

Andrew's 8th birthday was on a Mon. so we scheduled his baptism for the following Sat. morning which is also his Grandma Gilson's birthday. It was a wonderful day with lots of family there to celebrate this important step in Andrew's life. The pictures aren't perfect, but our little man is ... or should I say was.=)

After the baptism, we all headed back to our house (except Uncle Loren who had to get home) for lunch. Thank you everyone for sharing this special day with us.

We even had a cake to celebrate Glen's mom's birthday. Happy Birthday and Happy Baptism!

It's great to be 8!

2009-11-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

Andrew turned 8 last week and the tradition for birthdays has become that kids help out with decorating their "fancy" birthday cake. (Can you tell it's a number 8?) And as most of our previous cakes, this cake turned into an all day affair, but the final product and memories were worth it.

The night before, we followed a recipe to make a chocolate pound cake. The batter tasted great and Andrew and Izzy had fun helping.

Then Alex and Calvin had fun joining in for the taste testing.=)

I ended up burning the edges a bit but thought we'd be o.k. The next day, we spent most of the morning shopping for the decorations. First, Andrew wanted some playmobil knights. (Not always do we let the kids pick out a present to go on the cake, but sometimes it's a special treat.) So we found the perfect store and he picked out the perfect toy. Then we stopped at 2 other stores til we found the decorating supplies. By the time we got home I was exhausted and planned to take a nap and thought we'd have no problems frosting and decorating later. But Izzy said they'd be able to decorate the rest as long as I got them started. So I pulled out the cakes ... or should I say attempted to. The first cake came out no problems (just a little blackened on the edges and bottom.) The second cake had the top half come out first and then I had to pry out the second half. While working on this, Andrew tasted a burnt edge that had fallen off and almost got sick. I then tested a center bit and he was right. The cake was terrible but I was still determined to get it to look pretty. I pulled out the frosting to glue the top to the bottom and it wouldn't even stick to the cake. Grrrr! I couldn't run to the store because Alex and Calvin were down for naps so I checked the cupboards and luckily had a yellow cake mix. Andrew was o.k. that his cake wouldn't be chocolate after all. He really was sweet and sympathetic that the cake hadn't turned out. So we cooked the cake and I finally got to take a nap while it cooled. That's when the fun began.

We frosted the 2 round cakes with chocolate frosting. Then Andrew and Izzy were in charge of putting the chocolate rock candies on the sides. I made some construction paper stencils for our grass mounds and river.

We then used cool whip adding blue food coloring to make the river around the outside of the stencils. We dropped some chocolate pudding mixed with graham crackers (although this wasn't completely necessary) in the center circles and topped with a thick layer of green sprinkles. Glen made the perfect bridge across the water with pretzel sticks and helped Andrew with playmobil guy placement.

The final product: A perfect 8 shaped cake for an 8 year old boy that likes to play with fighting knights.

Baptism photos to come soon.

Mobius Museum--latest field trip

2009-11-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

Our last field trip for 2009 was to Mobius Museum. It's a children's museum in the mall and the kids had a blast. Andrew and Calvin spent the majority of their time playing with the boats in the water. Andrew kept making new tracks to channel the water and it was amazing to see how fast the water would flow in just the narrow areas.

Calvin also enjoyed the muddy sand pit. There was occasional water running from the shower head to make the sand perfectly messy. Surprisingly, the sand all stayed in the pit and not on the clothes or floor.

The girls (Calvin was found here occasionally) LOVED this Philipino hut. It had everything. Lots of imaginative play occurred here this day. It had this sitting room. Different girls in our homeschool group took turns being the mom or the shopkeeper or ... they just played.

There was a bucket of food that could also be taken outside to the Philipino market. The market was set up so the kids could sort the fruits and veggies into their own labeled bins. There were also baskets so the kids could "shop" at the market.

The hut also had a kitchen where they could cook their food and clean the dishes.

And the hula hoop. Very random but I've found that a pregnant belly and hula hoops don't mix. Although I have tried Walmart hula hoops in the past without the pregnant belly and I think I've lost the hula hooping touch.

Outside the hut was an outrigger canoe. Izzy liked canoeing and then went fishing with her hands. Don't you just love all this imaginary play!

They also had dress-up clothes and some of the boys were firemen while others were police officers.

Alex and Calvin tried out the 3 and under play area (although Alex is going to be hitting 4 next month.) The treehouse had hidden tunnels to get to other areas.

Bumpy slides are always fun.

And anytime someone has a reason to crawl on the floor, it's always a hit.

The most popular attraction was this backhoe. The electronic controls lifted and lowered the arm and scooped and dropped the gravel. Alex finally had the patience to wait in line for her turn. Calvin tried a few times, but would find something else to do not too long before it was his turn. Thankfully he didn't mind that he never did get to try the machine out. Sidenote: Calvin is bonkers about heavy machinery hence the surprise he didn't make sure he had his turn.

Bikes with video screens to follow traffic signals (I think. Never did get a close enough view.)

This car/pedestrian playground was built because a 13 year old boy racing a bicycle race was hit and killed by a car. This playground had everything possible from crossing guard uniforms and tools, police officer uniforms, cars for the kids to drive on the roads, crosswalks with different signals, and signs with rules to follow when crossing the road so they wouldn't get hit by the oncoming cars.

Children museums are great and Mobius in Spokane was definitely a hit!

Buck's Pizza--Another field trip

2009-11-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

We got to see how a pizza shop is run. We went to the kitchens where they showed us how to make pizza. It brought back my Little Caesar's and Mama K's memories.

This is how they toss the dough. We never did it that fancy at my pizza shops. Maybe that's what made their pizza so good.=)

Then Buck showed us the saucing.

And then the kids got to top their own half of a pizza. Are you serious? Half a pizza and not just 1/4? Yep, and with 3 kids making 1/2 a pizza each, we enjoyed lunch and went home with dinner.

Alex topped her half with mushrooms.=) That's my girl!

The kids LOVED the ovens. They roll through on this conveyor belt and 6-8 mins. later, you have done pizza.

And check out that spatula.

What a fun and yummy field trip. If we lived closer to Buck's Pizza, we'd probably order from there cuz it was sure good.

Pumpkin Carving '09

2009-11-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

I always look forward to carving pumpkins so I can get my pumpkin seeds cooked for the year. I'm still surprised at how few seeds we get from four big pumpkins especially since at least half of my kids like to snack on them too. Oh well. It was still a fun activity.

Walters' Fruit Ranch--Another field trip

2009-11-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

Still behind here. Glen was able to take just the 2 older kids to Walters Fruit Ranch a few weeks ago when the rest of us were still fighting illnesses. They took a tractor ride around the ranch, learned how to pick an apple from a tree, got to pick out their own pumpkin to bring home, and got to see how they made apple cider and tried some. Bummed I missed it, but I definitely enjoyed the nap.

Here's the apples they got to pick and eat.

Gilson's Meat Processing Plant

2009-11-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

This year we've been scrimping our pennies, (saving up for a house) so we bought a cow. An added bonus is that Glen's dad knows how to butcher meat so we got us a GREAT deal. We each got half the cow and spent a nice long day packaging our meat. Never done something like this before so I'm journaling our experience. Don't worry, there aren't any cow organ pictures in this post, but if you're not interested in seeing raw meat, don't scroll down.=)

Glen's dad turned the garage into our meat processing plant.

Making hamburger. This hamburger is soooo good. I wasn't sure if it would be fatty and greasy, but it's just right.

Calvin was the only one that really came out and visited. The other kids enjoyed a whole day of video games and movies. With those kind of options, who wants to watch meat being cut up.

After the cutting, there's the wrapping.

Joy's Petting Zoo

2009-10-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

I've temporarily given up on blogging Alaska. We've been doing so many things (although I'm not sure how because it seems we've been cooped up so much lately due to sicknesses) that I'd better try to catch and keep up on those (and move on from the graphic bear photos=) and get Alaska later.

So, through the virtual academy we're involved in, the kids are able to attend field trips most every Friday. We LOVE it!!! The first was a big play group at a park to meet other families. Second, we went to Joy's Petting Zoo.

This wasn't your average lets go pet and maybe brush the goats kind of petting zoo. Farmer Joy came out and showed us all of her animals and made sure the kids got to pet every part of these critters. We felt a duck's tooth. Yes, they have one tooth on the end of their beak that they use to break out of their shell. We felt the beak, of course the feathers and the webbed feet. We felt the comb on a rooster's head and the hanging down thing (what's that called?)

We got to feed the animals bread, carrots and apples. The horses LOVED apples. Farmer Joy taught the kids to not be afraid of the horse biting them. Put the food on your hand and hold your hand out flat. The horse uses his lips to feel and find the food. He won't bite. You just gotta trust them.

We got to see the size difference of different eggs. This was the coolest, an emu's egg. It was huge, dark and heavy.

We pet llamas,

horses,

and got to hold kittens.

The fun part about this place is that every animal has been rescued by Farmer Joy. She told us most of their stories which added to the experience.

This petting zoo also had some swings from the trees and jungle gyms to play on,

and Calvin LOVED the dirt.

We had a blast and love our Friday field trips.

The coolest bear science lesson

2009-10-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

You don't get to hear about our Alaskan Cruise yet. Half of our pictures are on the other computer and I haven't been able to transfer them. But I did finally get some pictures of the coolest science lesson ever. The kids were staying with their grandparents while we were gone and they took on full duties of parenting and schooling. Glen's parents are amazing.

Glen's parents have some neighbors that have been having bear problems in their orchard. Well, they were able to catch the bear in the act and shot him. My father-in-law was the one in charge of taking care of the carcass. Since the kids were there, they got to experience the coolest lesson ever. The only thing I'm sad about is that I wasn't there.

Here's a skinned bear.

Here's the hide.

And here's where the real lesson comes in. My father-in-law (retired school teacher) layed out a tarp and placed the organs for the kids to see and feel. I don't have the picture here, but he also cut the stomach open and sure enough, fresh big chunks of apples from the orchard the bear was snitching were still in the stomach. Alex told me all about the apples when we got back. It was so cute that this was the part of the lesson she wanted to share.=)

This is my father-in-law blowing air through the trachea into the lungs. Isn't that the coolest thing ever to see the lungs expanding from air being blown into them. Soooo cool!!!

See how much bigger the lungs are here.

Did I already mention I was jealous that I wasn't there?! The kids enjoyed the experience and I'm so thankful for such wonderful grandparents who also turn everything into teaching moments.

Andrew and Isabel's schoolwork

2009-10-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

The school we're involved in has an advisory teacher that the kids report to each week. This week she asked for some samples of their schoolwork so I thought making a video would be fun. It was a bit more work than I had anticipated, but the kids had fun picking what they wanted to display and explain and I'm glad to have a record. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca6eVYW3ybo

Back to nature walks

2009-09-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

Blog catchup. We LOVED this nature walk but it makes me sad because it's starting to feel too cold for too many more nature walks. We'll try to squeeze in a few and maybe get some snow walks in, but don't think that's going to happen too often.

This bridge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s. The kids had fun but wanted to go down the side and explore closer to the water, so we hiked on down.

On our way down, Alex made a discovery. Can't tell what it is or remember what she was excited about, but observing is exactly what these nature walks are all about.

The most exciting part about this walk was the fact that it turned our textbook science day into a hands on experience. Our current schedule is one day of textbook science with our lapbook and one day of nature walk for science. (The other days we do 2 days of history and 1 day is our field trip day-which is sometimes science related.) Mon. had been our first textbook science day for the year and it had been bad. I'd waited til quiet time thinking that it would work better without Alex or Calvin around. Well, it had already been a long day so adding another half hour of discussing science and listening to mommy read to them on the couch was just too much and I didn't get anywhere near as much accomplished as I'd hoped. (Since then, I've learned that it works a lot better as long as they have something to color while I'm reading. I usually print off some coloring pages I quickly find online at least somewhat pertaining to the topic. Water animals have been some favorite coloring pages here.) Anyways, even though it had been a rough textbook day, we'd talked about zooplankton and phytoplankton (I know, I know. You've got these boring images of sitting at a school desk copying down the definitions to these words and never really understanding what they mean. You just need to remember the definition to pass the test. ... Or is that just my memory.=) Anyways, we're looking in the water of the Spokane river and Andrew notices the algae. Phytoplankton. So how did it get there? The current of the river carried the plankton until it landed on the rock and started to grow. It was an amazing lesson and brought our textbook to life.

There's all that phytoplankton (plankton is an animal that drifts in the water to get from place to place. Phytoplankton is plantlike because they use the sun to make their food while zooplankton is more like animal because they need to eat to get food.)

After exploring the water, we crossed the bridge and enjoyed a dirt trail.

and enjoyed the views.

We spotted a huge osprey. A friendly birdwatcher helped us identify him correctly. We got to watch him swoop down to the water to catch some food. Too fun.

My new favorite quote is "Treasure the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less." This walk was a good reminder of why I homeschool and how much fun it's supposed to be. When you bring learning to life, it makes so much more sense and will stay with you forever.

Everyone is a child of God

2009-09-27T14:33:00.001-07:00

We've all heard this phrase before and if you attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you've sung this song since you were 2. And hopefully we all know it's true.=) Anyways, I've always associated it with myself that "I" am a child of God (emphasis on the me part) which is very important of course. Lately I've been struggling with parenting (I have 4 kids so I'm always struggling with parenting just like all parents do.=) Last night at our church's women's conference, one of the speakers made the statement that "everyone is a child of God." Now I've heard it before and I know it's true, but this time it was the most perfect statement to assist in my parenting. I couldn't tell you what else she was even talking about or what context she was using it in. It was just an answer to my prayers.

This morning we sat at the breakfast table and I shared with my kids my impressions from last night and asked what they thought. They agreed that everyone is a child of God. They agreed that Heavenly Father wants all of his children treated nicely and respectfully. So from now on, if any of us sees any of us treating someone unlike how they ought to be treated, we're going to try saying, "Remember, everyone is a child of God." Their quick response is supposed to be "Sorry so and so. I love you." They loved it and even wanted to role play. Boy, we just had too much fun. I'm optimistic that this will help some of the arguing and fighting that's been driving me crazy lately.=)

Canning Peaches

2009-09-02T16:25:00.001-07:00

It's canning season. We've been close to out of fruit for a little while. And I'm on an emergency preparedness kick. So yes, we went up to Glen's parents to can a ton of peaches. Well, not a ton but 70 quarts worth. (This time I had to buy more jars.=)

My favorite part was my helpers. We got to Glen's parents house in time for dinner, went swimming and boating (paddling and canoeing) on the lake and started away on the canning when the sun was headed down and so were my kids. These 3 troopers (my nieces and nephew) ventured into the kitchen and joined in on the fun. Shyla had said she was interested in learning how to can and the other two hopped on board. They all stayed up and helped til I was done for the night: LATE!!! We had a blast singing silly camp songs and just laughing together.

Thanks again for your help everyone!

First day of school

2009-08-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

School started last Thursday with most of the other public schoolers. It didn't go as smoothly as planned but it worked out well enough. Here's a peek at what we did which will be added to and altered throughout the year I'm sure. First we said the Pledge of Allegiance. (Each child will get a turn being the flag holder. Calvin doesn't like the days he's not it but he'll learn to take his turn.=) Then we had a family prayer. Then we went into storytime for the little ones.

This part is my favorite. Andrew read to Calvin and Izzy read to Alex (until she got tired and then asked Andrew to finish it off.--The plan is to switch off who reads to whom each day.) Calvin gets read to upstairs while Alex stays downstairs. (We've found that separation is best.) It's perfect! It gives my preschoolers some "being read to" time, one on one time with a sibling, and a feeling of being part of "school." The older kids get reading out loud practice and one on one sibling time. It was fun listening to Andrew that first day starting to put some feeling and different voices in the story. For me, this is my time to finish cleaning up breakfast if needed, maybe finish getting ready for school or a chance to sit and listen to my readers read. Can you see why would be my favorite time?!

After this, we find an activity for the preschoolers to do so we can keep on with school with fewer interruptions. First day of school we found that these toys didn't keep Calvin busy quite long enough for our big kid storytime, but we made it through.

We have discovered that getting the little ones outside keeps them busy a lot longer. Do you like our built in sandbox?=) It wasn't supposed to be but the kids discovered that digging down far enough in the dirt, there was nothing but sand. I absolutely LOVE our backyard. The kids go out and play like kids are supposed to.

So we got the little ones busy and started big kid storytime. One of Izzy's goals for this year is to finish our book of Fairy Tales. It's a compilation of Grimm's, Hans Christian Anderson and some others. These aren't the happy Disney versions but the kids eat them up. After we read a Fairy Tale, the kids get to pick from the narration jar how they want to narrate the story. (Examples from our narration jar: chalkboard (because we have this really cool chalkboard wall), chalkboard pictionary, paint, act it out, draw 1 picture, draw 2 pictures, playdoh, or tell it to mama. Basically they use any of these ways to tell what happened in the story.) Our first day we read Thumbelina and got to draw on the chalkboard. Alex and Calvin even got their own box for coloring.

All the extra details in this picture are hard to explain but you get the idea.=) They had fun and it's always amazing to see and hear the extra details they catch from stories. Izzy looks forward to this part of our school everyday.

These 2 kids of mine are very different. Andrew LOVES workbooks whereas Izzy can't sit still. So we're still trying to figure out the best way for her math. Right now we're getting some much needed chores done around the house while she practices her math. First day of school we needed to get stuff ready to go up and visit the grandparents. I needed to can peaches and the jars were still packaged in the garage. So, Izzy helped unwrap the jars and count them all the way up to 40 I think. Andrew then helped figure out how many more boxes we would need to purchase from the store. My next project for her to do is organize a box of pictures (from 1-375) that Calvin decided to dump out and mix up. It gets my chores done and her practice in. Andrew is still enjoying his Singapore Math workbooks and Sudoku books and any other math book he can get his hands on. I really need to practice flashcards with him to see how well he's really doing.

Last year the kids had their journals bound at Office Max but they didn't really enjoy the journaling so I wasn't going to MAKE them do it. Izzy (the one who truly hated the writing) kept asking if she could make another journal this year so I asked them both if they were interested and it was an overwhelming yes. So each day they write a journal page. Izzy only has to come up with and copy 1 simple sentence and Andrew does 2 good detailed sentences.

Also for handwriting, Andrew copies a quote from somewhere. Right now I have a book of wisdom quotes from all over that he copies. It's nothing long so it has to be neat or he gets to do it over. We follow the quality not quantity philosophy.

As for Izzy, we're working on getting her to use more lowercase letters and having them face the right direction. The past few days she's been practicing the alphabet on a plate of sugar (except for the day that Calvin was around and wanted to join so we used whipped topping.) Today I had her write her letters again in sugar and then write them on paper and already seeing massive improvements. Last year, she would've been in tears at this kind of work but she's growing up. Another reminder to me that waiting until they're ready is o.k.

So that's reading, writing and math. Posting about science, history and any other classes we decide to add will be seen later. For now, we're getting the basics down.

After our first successful day of school, the kids decided an activity was appropriate. Risk has become the new favorite game around here and what better way to study geography, practice some math, etc. (Well it's Andrew's favorite game anyway. He's figured out how to play on his own when nobody wants to sit down and play with him. I figured after our first 3 1/2 hour game they would've had enough. Nope! Everyday if I don't hear the question "Will you play Risk with me?" then something must be wrong.=) So I let the kids play while I took a much needed nap. They played 2 games for probably 4 hours total. Crazy kids but how can I complain? They're playing and learning together. I love homeschooling!!!

Swim lessons were a hit!--Check out the divers ...

2009-08-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Moving in the middle of summer makes it hard to squeeze in swimming lessons. But we did it. We went the very first week swim lessons were offered before we moved and the very last swim lessons available after we moved before the season was over. The kids have improved a GREAT deal since the summer started. I've always felt bad that our kids haven't been exposed that much to the water. Even when it was just 2 little one, I wasn't brave enough to venture into the water with them.

Our second (Spokane) sessions were WONDERFUL! Izzy and Alex were the only 2 kids in their class and Andrew was in a class with just one other boy. It was like having private lessons at community swim lesson prices. Fantastic! The kids were brave and everyone took a turn going off the diving board. (Sorry but Andrew's video won't load. Izzy is just too funny with her dancing before getting into the water.

Alex and Calvin duel

2009-08-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Glen got a new toy for his birthday, Wii Sports Resort. My favorite is archery or bowling with 100 pins. The kids have had fun trying out different games including the dueling game. Alex and Calvin even got to play. Too cute!

Tired of nagging your kids in the mornings?

2009-08-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

The kids and I came up with this little ditty to help ease the morning routine. How can you argue the rules put to a poem?

Get up, get dressed

Make your bed.

Check your chores,

Then you'll be fed.

Brush your teeth,

Brush your hair.

Then we can go anywhere.

99 lbs of cherries on the wall

2009-08-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

When we go cherry picking, we mean business. The kids haven't been to an orchard for picking fruit since ... well I'm not sure when. They don't remember ever either. These cherries were so yummy that we decided to go cherry picking.

Here are some of the fruits of our labors. I almost can't look because they make my mouth water.

Picking perfect cherries is a perfect reason for climbing.

Everyone got into it,

even Calvin.

And Grandma and Grandpa were there.

We had so much fun that we just kept picking away until we ended up with 99 lbs. of cherries. A little more ambitious than planned, but we can handle it.=)

I don't think we can eat that many,

no matter how yummy or how hard we try.

When the kids got done picking, they just explored. Calvin is a very good stick finder. Nothing is more fun than a good stick.

We ended up canning 61 quarts of bing cherries and 10 quarts of pie cherries. That my friends is a whole lot of cherries.

Andrew and Izzy even helped with the canning job although they informed me that it wasn't as much fun as picking. I agree. Picking is just too much fun.

We've been able to go huckleberry picking (unfortunately not able to can anywhere near as many as 61 quarts. That huckleberry picking is a whole lot more work, but they're sure yummy.) in the mountains a few times. We went to another orchard closer to Spokane called Green Bluff and picked raspberries along with some kale and carrots. Kale was a new experience. I think I like the baby leaves better fresh. Cooked wasn't my favorite. We're hoping to go get some peaches in the next week or so but I still need to find which box my own canning supplies. We've been running low on our fruit supply for some time now and we've been desperately missing applesauce. Still plenty of canning to do this summer. Oh and a friend in the ward has an amazing garden in her backyard and offered green beans for the taking. We've been able to freeze a few bags of those. Couldn't believe how yummy a can of spam fried up and added to some fresh boiled green beans. (Don't forget the butter and salt.) Anyways, here's to canning.

Water witching?

2009-08-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Glen's parents went with their daughter to visit her husband's family in the Philippines. One of the families they visited owns 5 acres of land (I hope I'm getting this story right) but they couldn't use it because they couldn't get any water. So Lynda (the aforementioned daughter, Glen's sister) asked her dad to see if he could find water while they were visiting. He packed for the trip making sure to search out a good willow tree to break off a perfect dowsing stick to bring in his bag. The first day they were there, dad went water-witching, found water that day and they were able to get a well dug that weekend. This land that had been unusable for the past 10 years is now usable. All because of a willow stick and an amazing gift to be able to water-witch?

I'd never seen someone water witching before. I'm not sure I'd even heard of it before I met my husband. So how does it work? The water-witcher holds a dowsing rod of choice (Glen's dad does best with a forked willow stick.) You hold it a certain way and walk slowly across the ground until the stick starts to pull down towards the ground. No one's really sure why it happens and why only certain people can do it. But I can now testify that it's real. Glen's dad took us on a walk to the well on their land to show us water-witching. Each of the kids got to hold the stick with grandpa to feel the amazing tug it pulled when it was above water. It was really cool to watch but even cooler to be on the other side of that stick.

We had to get our hand grip right. Now that was tricky. My wrist didn't want to cooperate.=)

Holy cow that stick is pulling down towards the ground. The tug on that thing was amazing. Just watching you may have thought it could still be fake. But the pull of that thing ... Crazy!

I tried it on my own, but don't think I have the gift. Glen doesn't have it either but I think a few of his siblings do.

After this experiment, Glen and I watched Coraline (a Tim Burton type film--not a movie for kids. I was even a bit freaked out by it.) She was water-witching at the beginning of the movie and I understood what she was doing. You learn something new everyday.

We really did do SOME camping

2009-07-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

We like to camp. We like being outdoors, with no television or computers to distract us (because it's hard to resist when they are around). We like having nature all around, and the feeling like you slept in til 9 or 10 in the morning but it's only 5:30 a.m. Do you know how much you can get done when you wake up at that time of day? I'm almost tempted to park my tent out back to help me wake up in the mornings.=) Point is, we just like to camp. Part of our cross-country trip was supposed to include a lot more camping. Unfortunately, my morning sickness required hot and quick breakfasts in the mornings and a comfy bed for the uncomfortable nausea moments. The one good thing about the nausea was that it helped me not overeat on junk food like I usually tend to do during long car travels.=)

Anyways, the night before getting up to Glen's parents house, I'd been feeling a little better so we decided this was our last chance. We found a primitive camping spot and set up camp. It was wonderful. The kids finally had a chance to just get out and play. Yes the national park stops were good but it wasn't truly free play. It was reading and writing and learning. This campout was running with no where to go, catching the plethora of grasshoppers bouncing about. (Andrew accidentally killed one because he had too many, 8, in his hand. Whoops!) There was a stream close by (almost a little scary for me with my little babies, but that water was way too cold and had to be hiked down a little bit. Luckily Calvin and Alex weren't interested in exploring that area.)

We really did do Some camping and we LOVED it!

The Progression of Izzy's Shiner

2009-07-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

It all started at Devil's Tower National Park in Wyoming. We were hiking along the trail while Izzy was jumping from rock to rock in her flip flops. (I know, I know. Bad mommy sets a bad example by hiking in flip flops.) That's when she slipped, fell and hit her cheek just wrong against a big boulder. At first the damage didn't look too bad but that quickly changed as it swelled to a golf ball size lump.

The next morning we woke up to see that the lump had gone down but the bruising had spread. Izzy looked in the mirror and said, "I don't want to go down to breakfast. (we were making sure to stay in hotels with hot breakfasts.) I don't want anyone to see me. When we move, if I still have this, I don't want to go to anyone's house and I don't want anyone to take any pictures." Luckily she forgot about the no picture part (or gave up avoiding us) and let us document the black eye of a lifetime. She finally caved in and came down to breakfast although everywhere we went, we were mostly ready for the obvious question "What happened?" Some of the gasps were bigger than others, but I was very thankful we wouldn't have to see any of these people ever again.

I guess it had to get a little worse before it got better, but after a day or so she was able to open her eye again.

This picture was taken a few days after the road trip. As you can tell, the bruising got a lot better. We were very thankful it didn't last as long as the bruise of 2002, but that's another story.

The day that Glen and I left to go house hunting, the bruise was looking tons better. It's finally almost gone and then guess what happens???

You guessed it. We moved into the new house. Went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to pick up the kids and bring them home. It was either the first or second day of the kids exploring and running through the new house when Izzy slipped and hit her cheek on the stairs. It was a little lower this time but of course on the same cheek. Anyways, she has another nice little bruise to cover up the one she was almost done with. Luckily we had ice (a bag of frozen corn) on hand and it didn't swell like before.

Day 8--Deer Lodge, Montana--Grant-Kohrs Ranch

2009-07-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it. The last stop on the trip before arriving at our final destination and it was fun. Our favorite part was meeting up with our San Antonio friends who just moved to Deer Lodge (2 mins. or so down the road from this stop.) Thanks Karen for letting us borrow you guys for the day.=)

Background story: When they moved to San Antonio, Glen and Andrew went over to help move their family in. They moved out of their house before we were in the midst of packing so Glen and Andrew went over again to help load up the truck and store their stuff in storage. Their family ended up leaving San Antonio a day after us but were arriving at their home before us so the running joke was we'd get there in time to help move them in. Unfortunately, they didn't have access to their house yet so we didn't get to help. But Karen, we truly would have.=)

There was so much fun stuff to do here and it was all free (except for the wagon ride.) We explored old farming equipment.

Checked out stables, bunkhouses, the original house of the family that used to run this ranch. The favorite was the blacksmith shop. We watched the Park Ranger make a brand from a piece of iron and then she branded everyone a piece of wood for a keepsake. Did I mention this was ALL FREE!!!

The lasso station was a HUGE hit. The kids and adults played for a very long time.

We went on a wagon ride. This part wasn't free but it was worth it. I think the kids had fun and we adults enjoyed the tour of the premises.

The kids worked and worked on their Junior Rancher booklets. Here they aren't Junior Rangers. They became Junior Ranchers.

Alex and Calvin just played and explored new fun things.

They let the kids round up the chickens then collect their eggs.

Dinner's ready. Come and get it.

It was a very fun day and like all of our other stops, we enjoyed it longer than planned. But we enjoyed it and had fun relaxing and playing and then got back in the car for the last leg of the trip. We're almost there. Tomorrow we get to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Day 7, part 2--Crow Agency, Montana--Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

2009-07-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument might sound more familiar to you as Custer's Last Stand. My history buff husband said this was his favorite stop on the trip. The kids were a little bored, but that's why this was called a "family" vacation, something for everyone.

We watched a video that made most people (well, myself anyways) wonder why in the world did General Custer go into this battle. They were at the top of the hill with a camp of indians on each side outnumbering them by huge numbers (the actual numbers are in the kids Junior Ranger books and can probably be found online, but I mostly remember the odds were definitely not in General Custer's favor.) What was he thinking? But then again, we'll never know the real story because the one that wins the war tells the history and history is usually one-sided because of it.

Then we walked around the battlefield and up to the US Cavalry monument. This is where General Custer died. Tombstones were placed in approximately the places where the soldiers fell. It was sad to see random tombstones by themselves or in small clusters in a completely different part from the main battlefield. I pictured how that soldier must've felt. Was he escaping from the bloody battle or sneaking up on someone?

The white tombstones are for US Cavalry and reddish tombstones are for the Indians that fell. There aren't as many red tombstones because a lot less indians died and they took care of their dead before places could be marked.

My favorite part was the Indian memorial. It was beautifully done and had this fun art piece.

We had fun.

Day 7, part 1--Montana--Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area--Yellowtail Dam

2009-07-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

An hour out of the way but we could get Junior Ranger badges so we stopped at the closest part of the recreation area possible to get the job done. This led us to Yellowtail Dam Visitor's Center which was ... well, exciting enough. We had just started taking the side road to get to our destination when the amazing thunderstorms almost stopped us in our tracks. I again heard the radio warning to take cover and got nervous when the pea-sized hail started hitting the top of the van. Glen was in the car behind me and we couldn't see a thing. I pulled over for a few mins. debating whether this trip was worth it, but we decided we might as well. After 10 mins. or so of scary driving, the rains cleared up enough to feel confident again. When we got closer to our destination, we saw a fire on the side of the mountain. I secretly hoped we'd get a chance to see it and my wish came true. Lightening struck the mountain across the way from the dam so we got to see the dam, eat our pb&j sandwiches and watch the smoke from the fire. As I said, it was exciting enough. And we got our Ranger badges.

Day 6, part 2--Wyoming--Devil's Tower National Monument

2009-07-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

That's it. Off in the distance is Devil's Tower National Monument. Mount Rushmore was a long day but we rushed to see if we could quickly see this site. Glad we did because it was perfect and still left us only 1 day behind.

On the way there, we saw a small herd of these straggly looking goats. There were 6 or 7 of them on the side of the road so we stopped to get a picture.

We made it to the Visitor's Center at 6:15 and it closed at 7. So we rushed in to see how fast we could get our Junior Ranger stuff done. The park ranger was very nice and went ahead and filled out certificates and gave me the badges to give the kids when they finished. PERFECT!!! We were able to relax and just enjoy the site while the kids worked on their stuff (which was a nature booklet. If they saw a squirrel, check it off. If they saw ... Pretty easy stuff.) These telescopes were free to see close ups of the large rock formation.

And there it is. And Alex is sporting her Mount Rushmore badge. That was the only badge she earned on the trip so she was extra proud of it.

We followed a trail around the base of Devil's Tower and the kids enjoyed climbing some of the side boulders. You'll see Izzy's beginnings of a black eye (at the end of this post) from not being so careful on these rocks.=(

You can kind of see random ribbons tied to some branches in the trees all around the tower. These are hung up by indians who still worship at this site. They are prayer ribbons to keep the evil spirits away or something like that. Very fascinating stuff. I didn't know there were still rituals like that still performed for real instead of just show. Very cool indeed.

And there it is. The humble beginnings of the famous black eye to be. At first glance it looked fine, but very quickly swelled to be a golf-ball sized lump on her cheek. (Also notice her fancy badges.=)

It doesn't look bad ... yet. Wait til tomorrow.

Almost done with our trail, Glen spotted 2 deer grazing in the grass close to us. They just watched us and slowly went their own way. It was a fun close-up.

And I finally got to show Glen a mountain bluebird. I'd seen a few so far on the trip and had never seen something so bright blue before. Absolutely gorgeous.

Day 6, South Dakota--Mount Rushmore National Memorial

2009-07-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

This was the park that inspired our whole trip. No matter what, we wanted to get to see Mount Rushmore and Mount Rushmore we did.

There's been a lot of stuff added to this site (not the rock monument itself) but a lot of this stuff wasn't here 15 years ago when Glen saw it with his family.

They had a booth for the kids to learn about flags. I didn't know that the different colors on our flag meant different things. Still can't tell you what they mean without looking it up but it was interesting to find out it wasn't just because the colors look good together.=)

Even Calvin found stuff to keep him busy.

Inside the Visitor's Center was TONS of information. Our favorite was learning that 90% of Mount Rushmore was formed by dynamite. They had this hands on exhibit. The kids would pick which part of Mount Rushmore they wanted to blast on the Tv screen. Then they'd push the dynamite blaster down and BOOM! The kids spent a lot of time blowing stuff up.=)

The hike around the base of the mountain had lots of lookup points. This view is from the inside of a cave. I thought it was fun cuz you can see right up Washington's nose.

They also had exhibits along the trail. We pet a buffalo fur.

We saw how the inside of a teepee might be decorated. We even noticed they had buffalo furs for carpeting.

And of course a teepee was set up so we could go inside.

This was some rubble at the base of the mountain. You can see some of the rocks have straight lines through them. These are from drilling in order to place dynamite.

On the trail was Borglum's art studio. This was where the mastermind behind the mountain did his work. This replica was used as a model for the workers. The park ranger is demonstrating a jackhammer.

Here's what the completed mountain would've looked like if the sculptor hadn't died or ran out of money for the project.

The kids worked on their Junior Ranger books throughout our visit. Lots of fun stuff we learned through these books. Even Alex had a Junior Ranger Trainee booklet she worked on. She enjoyed sporting her badge around after this trip.

Day 5, part 2--Wall, South Dakota--Wall Drug Store

2009-07-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

What? You've never heard of Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota? Well, neither had I. It's this small town right outside of the Badlands and Glen said we HAD to stop. He'd been there as a kid and said it's this huge convenience store. We'd had a long day at the Badlands and personally I was done for the day. I wasn't ready for a random convenience store stop. But it was time for dinner so maybe they had some food in town. It turned out this place was huge and definitely worth the stop. We got dinner, walked around parts of the store (it even has it's own chapel inside--that's how big it is.) We got some homemade ice cream on our way out and headed for a hotel. The coolest part about this place was the story of how it came to be.

Quick synopsis: This poor family was living in the back of thier pharmacy/soda shop which wasn't making any money in such a small town. One day the wife said, "Do you know what all those cars on the highway want after driving through the hot prairie? They want nice cold ice water." So they made Free Ice Water signs and placed them along the highway. That day was the busiest day they'd had since they'd opened almost 5 years earlier. They went from not making hardly anything to now having I think 20,000 customers a day. Cool story huh. So this random convenience store has people loving the story so much that they post signs all over the world point to Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. Here's a sign at the South Pole. Notice "Free ice water" at the top of the sign.

This is what some of the signs on the side of the highway look like.

They have a new backyard playplace which was perfect. Our favorite was this jackalope.

Tons of other random stuff. If you find the T-Rex, hang around for 15 mins. and see the surprise. Just keep your kids a little ways away. Alex and Calvin were scared.=)

So if you're ever in South Dakota, you gotta stop at Wall Drug.

Day 5--South Dakota--Badlands National Park

2009-07-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Badlands. I'd never heard of it before this trip but whenever I heard the name, I always felt I was headed into my own World of Warcraft town.=) We got there to find what I compare to a miniature Grand Canyon. Of course we still had to be careful, but it was more touchable than the Grand Canyon. There were places to climb and play. We listened to a talk about fossils and enjoyed a few fun trails. We saw wildlife including the prairie dogs we watched from the side of the road for a while. We were supposed to enjoy the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore on the same day, but we had way too much fun exploring and being out of the car, so our plans were delayed a day. But that was the fun of this trip. We could do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. Enjoy the many pictures.

Izzy and Alex had fun sliding down this section.

We watched the prairie dogs from the side of the road for a while. We found they make a loud squeaking noise.

Can anyone explain this to me?

2009-07-11T20:12:00.001-07:00

In South Dakota in the town right before the Badlands, why was Super Unleaded cheaper than Regular Unleaded? Hmmm.

Day 3 and 4--Random stops through Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota

2009-07-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Day 3 and 4 goals were to get as far through the 11 hours through Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota as quickly as possible. (I think Oklahoma was in there somewhere too.) We almost stopped at Dorothy's house when we first got into Kansas but we were in the "Let's go quickly" mode. Maybe some other time we'll be driving backroads through these few random states. I have to admit, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The green is absolutely beautiful and the small hills kept us going. South Dakota ... well, we're thinking maybe we'll add Ellsworth AFB to our wish list because those black hills are gorgeous. Here's a few pictures of a random rest stop we enjoyed.

We stopped at this gas station because I actually heard the Emergency Broadcast System come on the radio to warn us of severe weather. These clouds were a little on the scary side so we ate dinner to pass some time. We finished dinner just in time to enjoy the rain driving 25 mph on the freeway. Now that was an experience. Everyone was driving with their hazard lights on.

But after the rain, we looked back to find a PERFECT double rainbow. These pictures don't even share half of its brilliance and there was no way to fit the whole picture in our camera. It was BEAUTIFUL and got even more brilliant as we sat there and watched for a few mins. Andrew wanted to run to the end to see if he could find gold.=)

Thank you South Dakota. We enjoyed the trip.

Day 2, part 2--Amarillo, Texas--Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument

2009-07-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

A little further down the road is the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. They only take 2 tours to the actual quarries twice a day during the summer (only once a day during the other times) and the tour is 2 hours long and since we had a slow morning, we skipped the tour. But the kids could still earn their badges by watching the video and filling out their booklet so we explored the visitors center. We found some fun things that had nothing to do with the quarries.

We saw 2 of these huge grasshoppers. They were about the same size as Izzy's hand. She tried to catch them, but they were far and fast jumpers. Plus I wasn't sure if they'd bite.

Texas has so many cool bugs. Fun black haired spider.

This looked like such a cool bug and stayed in the same spot for most of our stay, but then I found out it was a wasp. I guess it's still pretty.

Check out that fun long lizard. We're going to miss Texas' cool creatures.

The quarries are on the other side somewhere out there. We watched a video and there were flint samples inside the visitors center with lots of colors. My favorite part was watching the video and seeing the ranger make an arrowhead. They make it look so easy. But I guess that's what the warriors of the past did.

Day 2, part 1--Amarillo, Texas--Cadillac Ranch

2009-07-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Mornings were always slow but relaxing (mostly due to the not so fun morning sickness stage going on right now. It's supposed to stop at 3 months not start in full swing. But as long as breakfast came quickly ...) The kids loved enjoying those morning cartoons.

Day 2 of our trip we HAD to stop by the Cadillac Ranch. Isn't there a country song that mentions it? It's just this random work of art displayed on the side of the highway. 10 Cadillacs are dug into the ground and graffitied for the world to enjoy. Very random but fun to see and experience.

You can climb, (but do it carefully around these semi-rusted contraptions), spray paint (there was spray paint off to the side that we let the kids spray just to say that they did.), whatever you want to do. I wonder if the rest of the cadillac really is underground. I don't know why it wouldn't be, but there was nothing to say anything about it.

We even discovered that if you turn one wheel, the other wheel turns but in the opposite direction. My dad says that happens on all cars. Did anyone else know that?

And Izzy discovered that if you turn this joint it'll turn both tires, still in opposite directions.=)

We enjoyed this artistic playground. Now 45 mins. down the road is the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. Off to get our first Junior Ranger badge of the trip.

Road trip to Washington--First stop--Frontier Texas in Abilene Texas

2009-07-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

This longhorn has horns longer than my 2 girls.

The military gave us 6 days to make the cross country trip but we took it slow and made it in 9.=) We mapped out our route fitting in as many National Parks with Junior Ranger programs as we could so the kids could get their Junior Ranger badges and patches from each stop. The first few days were just extra fun stops.

Our first stop was a fun museum in Abilene, Texas called Frontier Texas (not a National Park). It has holographic people telling the story of how the cowboys evolved over the years. Lots of lifesize displays made this fun for the kids too.

This is Calvin checking out the rattlesnake hole. It made a rattler noise every so often.

Check him out up close.

Teepees are always fun.

This is one of the holographic people telling her story.

Anyone else need a ride?

Now, 4 more hours of driving to find another hotel.

Springtime is for babies

2009-06-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

The kids have found multiple broken eggshells in our yard from the springtime babies. A book helped us determine that we think most of them were Mourning Doves (just white). But we have seen a few babies around. In this picture from left to right an adult Dove, a juvenile cardinal standing on the divider, a juvenile dove behind a parent? and a male cardinal. There was another juvenile cardinal and a juvenile dove around but this picture showed them all. It was so much fun to just observe them for a while. The male cardinal scolded his little ones away a few times. Maybe he's not the dad? Maybe they were doing something wrong? Who knows? The doves were calm as they always are. The picture below is a better profile picture of this cardinal. He has a crest. His beak hasn't changed to orange yet (even the brown female cardinals have a bright orange beak). You can kind of see the reddish tint in his tail, but you had to look really well. We had 3 of these guys around our house for about a week but I think they've found a new home or they're mad our birdfeeder is empty for the season. Gotta get them used to not having to rely on us anymore. This house has sure been a fun house with lots of exciting nature finds.

Speaking of nature finds, check out this really cool spider. A spider with a shell? It's called a spiny Orb-weaver. Orb-weavers usually make gorgeous webs.

Camping at Palmetto State Park

2009-06-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, some friends in the ward arranged a huge camping trip for the young families in the ward and 13 families came. It was a blast. I really did bring the camera but unfortunately, didn't remember to get too many pictures. I found it more important to just enjoy the moment. Luckily Glen got a few snapshots to remember our adventure. The camping, the company, the park, the smells, the sounds, and even the rain. It was a perfect camping trip.

This is how uncamera friendly we were. This is the best view of our campsite. That's also Josh Dean in the picture who was camped next to us.

And this park right behind our campsite (in the middle of the somewhat of a circle our group was camped in) was pure genius. The kids were able to just go play while we set up camp, cooked food, did what adults needed to do and let the kids be kids. Again, not the best picture, but it'll do.

Breakfast was delicious. Last camping trip it was sandy cereal with seagulls begging for food. This time it was pancakes, sausage, and eggs. Note to self. Next time don't forgot the spatula or salt and pepper, but the plastic fork worked well enough and thankfully some neighbors shared their spices. A few flies bugged us, but we didn't have any visitors visiting our food until after our long morning leave. That's when we came back to find what we think was a raven scouting out our food. I'll never mistake a crow and a raven again. That thing was huge.

Look at that good-looking crew. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

There was water nearby with snakes and very loud bullfrog sightings. (They sounded like loud ducks at night but nope. Lots of frogs.) Glen and Izzy got to spot a huge frog make two giant leaps to the water, but Andrew, Izzy and I got to see a water moccassin. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to go looking, but my adventurous mood must've hit because I went on a hunt with Earl, our group snake expert who kept telling us about his multiple sightings. The host said there were 7 different species of snakes in the area with a few poisonous ones. "Just keep your eye out and get help immediately if you get bit." Comforting words of advice don't you think.=) The snake we found, we'd almost missed it but it steered clear of us and luckily we didn't step on him. He just wanted to get back to his nest in the bushes. We could tell that he'd be fast if he really wanted to.

We ventured past the campsites down to a bridge crossing a river. Alex kept slipping and getting muddy.

This is me dipping her feet in the water to get all that mud off.

We continued our walk to a trail covered with Palmetto trees; hence the name Palmetto State Park. We had a ranger stop us right before the trail to once again warn us of the water moccasins but luckily we didn't come across any. We enjoyed the walk and Izzy had fun with the plant identifying map--although we decided they need to update it or replant some of the bushes and plants. It was still fun.

After the walk, we got our swimsuits and found a swimming spot (no snakes spotted.) The river had a small current and uncomfortable rocks under our feet, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Water is just fun.

What else did I forget to mention. At night we heard owls, spotted fireflies, listened to frogs, saw the snake and just played. I also learned how to whistle with a blade of grass. After the kids went to sleep, Glen and I found a campfire and visited with friends til 1:30 in the morning. We watched some lightening and made it back to our tent just before the drizzling rain started. The next morning, Andrew and I awoke to a loud bird outside the tent. We grabbed the bird book, binoculars and were ready for a nature walk. We got outside the tent just in time for the rain to come pouring down so we hunkered down in the car and waited it out. The smells were unbelievable. If I could wake up to those sounds and smells every morning, 6:30 would be an easy time to wake up to. Maybe it helped that our bed was the ground and not a comfy mattress although we all slept well enough. Calvin and the girls slept in til 9 or 10. Do you know how much I could get done if the kids would always sleep in that late?=)

Girls hair

2009-05-17T19:02:00.001-07:00

This little girl has had another scissor mistake. Monday morning her hair seemed a bit off, but that's normal before the morning brushing. When I went to brush her hair, "Izzy, what did you do to your hair?"

Answer: "The hair tie was stuck so I cut it out." This hair tie was only on the top front of her hair (which the hair is very short to the head from that cutting. I may have never noticed if it hadn't been for the obvious back.) This back cutting was from some scissor happy hands. Guess Miss Sarah is going to have to fix it. We set up Tues. to get it fixed but postponed it to Thurs. Good thing we did because Tues. night I came home from Andrew's soccer practice to find Alex sitting with Izzy at the kitchen table. Alex has scissors in her hand and says, "Mommy I cut my hair." She was so proud of herself but of course I expressed my disappointment and when Glen heard he came to the room saddened to see her long hair chopped. That's when Alex broke down into tears (such a sweet, sensitive little girl). She felt so bad but really wanted her hair short like mommy's. Izzy had done it and I guess she didn't get into enough trouble to deter her little sister. What gets me most is that Izzy was sitting right there at the table with Alex. What kind of coaxing or ignoring was going on at the table I'll never know. You couldn't really tell that she'd cut it, just a few short areas in the front on the side.

She'd never had a haircut before. She is 3 1/2 so I guess it was about time. Perfect timing for the summer heat. So Miss Sarah spent the afternoon and fixed everyone's hair, including mine.

Look how long those tresses are.

Sarah chopped it all off and it turned out very cute. Alex loves her new doo. Izzy still wants to grow her hair long but she's been reminded once again, stop cutting your own hair and it will be able to grow.