Garden, face painting, camping, family outings

There's been lots going on....

Our garden is growing like crazy and is ready for a few new plantings.

Face painting has been going well. My kids are often seen with their faces painted. .. them and the neighborhood kids.

We went on our yearly campout with our friends. It was a lot of fun. It was more work than fun for the parents but the kids had nothing but fun and made it worth all the work.

We made a trip to the mountains....those are always some of our favorite summer memories.


Today, in particular, was a great homeschooling day. Scripture study went well. I test read my newest book to the kids (they like it so far). Tyra wanted to learn about Bach's life. But we were interrupted because she wanted to learn about math instead. My homeschooling heart flutters when I hear sentences like the one she gave me then, "Mommy, can we finish reading about Bach after I learn about math?" Of course!!!!

Tyra and Ethan practiced on the piano...they do this at their own free will. Ethan is memorizing songs and Tyra is almost finished with the first piano lesson book. It's amazing to watch them want to learn and to see them progressing.

We also juiced and made fruit roll ups from the free apricots we picked up yesterday...all 6 bags of them! It was messy (as you can see) but it was fun. We also had the opportunity to share some of our apricot wealth with a lady I visit teach...her husband is severely disabled from scar tissue that has built up from the debilitating disease most of us have heard of -MS. She has a large load to carry so we stop by as often as we can.

Sorry to keep going but there's more that went well. Tyra and I cooked dinner together and Ty really enjoyed it today. The other kids wanted in but I told them we'll switch days. Tomorrow will be Ethan's day to cook with me, then cedric and so on.

We did turn on the TV today .... to the History channel and Ty says, " Ooooh, I love history!" There went that fluttering heart again.... :)

Then during bedtime stories the story/book Cedric wanted me to read him was my most recent story. (I took it as a compliment.)

Today really did go well.

PS Sorry Heather I realize that picture wasn't the best photo of you... I'll have to post a better one of you another time. :)

.

TRIathlon, Birthday, Boating, Canopy

>>>triathlon<<<

John did the Provo Triathlon this last weekend.

This time it involved swimming, biking, and running.

What a neat dad!

This triathlon was a little harder for us than the last one. We had a couple busy days before the race and didn't get to bed until late the night before the triathlon. But we got up at 5 in the morning and made it through the triathlon anyway.

Millie and Tyra hung out while we sat on blankets

under big trees after the race was over

>>>third birthday<<<

Cedric had his third birthday. He was sooo cute opening the presents that were just for HIM!

>>> boating <<<
We went boating with oma and opa. The boat almost sank ... but we made it out and back safely.


Look, here I am! I'm trying to look like I'm kicking back and relaxing in the boat but, instead, I just look retarded. Too bad Millie doesn't make up for my bad shot either.
My hunk came with too.

Opa let Ethan steer the boat. That smile couldn't be wiped from his face.


Cedric really loved it too.

Tyra got a try as well.

>>>comfy canopy<<<

Playing under our canopy in the front yard.

Cake, Dirty Pond, Secret Garden

Tyra designed this cake for fathers day ...originally it was blue and red with orange and red sparkles but it's close enough.

Nice job Ty.









The kids like to play in the fountain area in front of the Lehi Legacy center. Most moms walk by and say to their kids who are tempted to join us, "Eeew no, that's gross."

It's all ours baby!









Tyra LOVES gymnastics. Her favorite is the poles. Look at her go!








We began our annual tradition of reading The Secret Garden in our own little secret area at the Thanksgiving Point gardens. We look forward to this every year.

Dythalon, Krishna Temple, Constructing the universe

John completed a triathalon (dyathalon) today - more details are on my personal blog. We're so proud of him, he did great!











The kids did so well considering that they were woken up at 6am, had to wait in the car (to stay out of the rain and the cold) for 2 hours, and were shivering and all goose bumpy for another couple hours as we watched the racers take off and saw daddy come in.








We also went to the Himalayan Festival. It was So neat. The Inia(ns) have such a beautiful culture. We ate Tofu and other side dishes that were....interesting. Their food is more spicy than we thought it would be. The Tofu was actually our favorite.







Here's a beautifully dressed young India(n) girl.










The temple grounds consists of open hills and ... a llama farm. We were able to feed and touch them. A few people were spat upon by these woolly creatures. But, fortunately we weren't one of them!

I ran across a book I'll recommend to anyone thirsty for knowledge and unafraid of paradigm shifts. This book it titled, "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe". Who knew that there's such a thing as secular, symbolic and, most wonderfully, sacred mathematics.

Oh my goodness, I just saw that they have activity books to go along with this wonderful find - even more exciting!

"Studying number properties and intellectually knowing the road map, the symbolism, is not the same as actually taking the journey. We take that journey by finding within ourselves the universal principles these properties represent and by applying the knowledge to our own growth." Michael S Schneider

Where have we been, you may ask?

We've been to the center of Whangdoodle land.

We've been growing amongst the Babylonians.

We've, once again, been a witness to Leonardo da Vinci's successes.

We've been in Egypt with Joseph.

We've been watching our garden grow.

We've been undoing some messy predicaments between the Elf King and the Fairy Queen.

We've been carried off by the Comuter rail train.

Tyra has started Gymnastics. Ethan is starting karate tomorrow.

And in case I don't come back soon, you may find us under the busy streets of New York or continuing our adventures in Egypt with Moses or taking in the colorful life of the Indian people in India.

Those are some of the things we've been doing... ;)

*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*

Summary of our Homeschooling life:

Morning Devotional
-read B of M
-Memorize current Article of Faith
-Maybe a quote or song and...
-Pray

Read, read, read!
-Library books
-Chosen learning books
-Short story books
-Books about chosen country

Math days with daddy

Making discoveries in every new experience

Listen to Story of the World in car
or to
Audio Book

Night-time Bible stories

Night-time fun novel

Understanding the lives of the composers (Classical Kids)

Learning Sharing time

FHE

Sunday family meetings

And other small things that life is always willing to teach us!

Motorcyle, Grad, Bug, Newer Pet, Garden, Piano

If there's one thing we enjoy its..
"knowing that beyond every ordinary explanation there is a deeper and more exciting discovery to be made"

Julie Andrews Edwards, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

:::Motorcycling:::

Ethan, Cedric and Tyra got a chance to ride on a motorcycle!
Thanks to, Tyler, our next door neighbor.

:::Graduation Day:::

Amanda (John's sister) graduated from USU. Goooo Aggies!!! And way to go Amanda!

:::8th Anniversary:::

First John took some time off of working and we walked along the Jordan walkway and had a picnic with the kids.







We found a bug crawling close to where Millie was sitting.






John even let it crawl on his hand. . .

We researched this bug and found out that it was a "Toe Biter" bug which normally is an aggressive creature. Its bite is known to be the most painful out of all insects in its category (which includes ants, bees and wasps). Its crazy that we played with it like we did!

...I was warning them.








We watched a variety of birds at a nearby lake. There were different kinds of Gulls (seagulls) and even Pelicans!

All the birds took off at once after a dog ran into the water. It was thrilling!

When we got to the Jordan River there just happened to be a few men flying their model airplanes. It was so neat. These "toy" planes were huge - costing up to $9000!

One of the men in this group professionaly flies spy planes over the Middle East.

Cedric was enthralled by it all.

:::An Even Newer Pet:::

Ethan was playing with the baby snake we had recently found outside when I hear him screaming, "Mommy! mommy!!!" I figured he had lost his snake in the grass but instead came in carrying a whole other snake 10 times the size of the other one!

It measures 2 feet 4 inches long! Garter snakes usually grow to 2 - 2 1/2 feet long.

Not only are our kids enjoying the snake but the WHOLE neighborhood of kids come over daily to see and hold it! We've had multiple kids coming over a few times a day to visit these rad reptiles.

:::Square Foot Gardening:::

Yaaaay, we're finally getting our garden going. It's finally warm enough now.

The kids had a great time mixing the dirt for us. . .

. . . and starting their own garden.

:::Favorite Day:::

Our favorite day this week was the rainiest and coldest day of the week. We watched The Sound of Music - and the kids (mostly Tyra) enjoyed it and want to watch it again!

We also cuddled together in my room, playing various games as I read to them from The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.

:::Piano Playing:::

Tyra has been playing the piano. She's doing really well - considering that she isn't taking any professional piano lessons.

She loves to pull Millie up to the piano and let her tinker away to her hearts content.

Funnies, Olives, Glass, Train

Family Funnies---Greece---

We finished up our studies on

Greece by having a taste of one

of their favorite foods - OLIVES!!!

---New Pet---

We had an interesting experience by the Jordan River this week. First a large skunk scurried across the pathway about 20 feet in front of us. We didn't let it deter us from going to our favorite area though - we just tiptoed past where we saw him cross. We didn't want to annoy a skunk!

After only a few minutes at the lake we saw a snake slither across the waters edge in front of us. The kids caught it and we all decided to take it home and study snakes for the week. . . I'm not sure the river is going to be its home ever again...the kids love it and the snake seems to be happy himself.

---Glass Blowing---

We spent a couple hours at Thanksgiving Point while John shot some bridals in the T.P. Gardens. The kids wanted to go to the Art Gallery/Glass Blowing buiding. We came just in time. They had just started making a piece of art glass.

The artist has blown into the glass glob that is stuck to the end of his metal rod. He's shaping the end and widening the mouth in this photo.

After many other steps: heating the piece over and over, blowing into the rod over and over, shaping, stretching, cutting and pulling, he's flattened the glass piece and spins it to give it its shape... this is pretty much what the final piece looks like.

---Train---

Cedric is SOOO in love with trains! As we drove home from a Park Day with some other Homeschooling moms I saw a train off in the near distance as I crossed over its tracks. So we turned around, stopped near the tracks and got out of the car to watch. Boy, what a thrill. You don't realize the magnitude of the trains size nor the power in its body until you observe it up close.

The engineer even waved to the kids! Cedric is still talking about it!

"Our time is our life, and whatever it is we are doing with our time, we are paying for it with our life. The challenge of mortality is to manage our time in such a way that what we spend it on is worth our life."

Ardeth Greene Kapp