The Art of Art

Jacob is seriously addicted to paper and pencil. It's an honest obsession. For example, this morning he had the hardest time getting dressed. I finally got him out of his jammas, but then he was drawing wearing only his little red underwear. This is pretty typical . He doesn't eat, he gets out of his bed at night so he doesn't get much sleep...all to draw. He's getting very good too.

This morning Sammy finally decided to take an interest. Since he sees Jeffrey, BrookLynn, Berkeley, and Jacob always with a pencil in hand he decided to try his own hand. Just as I was thinking how grown up he looked, he bit the eraser off the end of his pencil and ate it. I guess growing up doesn't happen all at once!

Not Quite Twilight

So, since the blog is our "historical document" telling all we did this year, I have to add a short "Twilight" post. I fell in with everyone else this summer and spent a few (quite a few) carefree hours by the pool with Edward and Bella in Forks. So of course this morning after school Marie and I ran off to see the movie on opening day. I have to say that as I downloaded the picture I began giggling like crazy all over again. It was a pretty much terrible movie, but how could you ever do the story justice? All in all, I'm still glad I went because I haven't laughed that hard and long for quite a while, and that's what a girl's night (or afternoon ) is really all about.

Jerky - Then and Now

Making Jerky in 1994Today we do it a little differently. Mom does the hunting - at Albertson's. Dad acts as instructor and Jeffrey is more willing to get his hands dirty.

Golden Spike (flashback)

In his history lesson today, Dawson read about Promontory Point and the joining of the Transcontinental Railroad. I told him that he had been there, and he was pretty impressed with that, so I promised to post some pictures of the day we went to the reenactment ceremony. (Unfortunately, he thought all that loud whistle-blowing was pretty scary and he cried most of the time we were there.)

This picture of Jeffrey and BrookLynn was taken for and published by local newspaper.Hmmmm, I wonder where BrookLynn got the idea that Jeffrey wanted "Gold, Silver and Gold!" for Christmas that year.

Jeffrey wanted me to take a picture of him by this "pioneer car" LOL!

Two Left Feet

This is what happens when you have church at 9:00 a.m. and wake up at 8:10 a.m. You get half way through your first meeting when you realize Jacob has two left shoes on, each from a different pair! We could have taken him home to change, but I thought maybe his teacher would get a smile from it. It didn't seem to bother him at all since we noticed after dinner tonight that he was still wearing them!

Has your child ever told you....

"Mom, I don't really want to eat much dinner, I am still full cause I ate too much rattlesnake just now."

That was Berkeley on Thursday, and yes he did.

"Jungle Jeff"

What do you do when you have the coolest big brother ever?

Bring him to your scout Den of course! Today was my first turn to host my new bear den! We were working on "Sharing your world with wildlife" so I invited our own wildlife warrior "Jungle Jeff" to teach us about reptiles. He was AMAZING!
First I pretended to have this box of things I wasn't sure what to do with and then had the boys call out "Jungle Jeff!" Out he shot - Animal Planet style - from a bunch of brush in the green strip behind our yard . When we asked for his help he jumped the fence ,snake hook in hand, to teach us about the critters we share our desert with.

He showed us a couple snakes and a big 'ol bearded dragon. He also passed around some rattlesnake fangs, and let them take a snake shed from his collection. The boys were memorized the entire hour!

As the evening was drawing to an end they all started to ask what we were doing next week. I wouldn't tell them, but promised them that they wouldn't want to miss it, and it was going to be really fun. Tanner looked up at me with a sort of reverence and said, "Oh, I believe you!"

Thanks Jungle Jeff! You are AMAZING!

Diagnosis?

Fever of 104.5 , major full body rash, back and joint pain. Could it be Chicken Pox? Measles? Scarlet Fever? Two pediatricians, no answers. We'll get a chest X-Ray and some blood work.... Turns out BrookLynn's body is having an allergic reaction to Pneumonia!

We picked up two antibiotics, hydrocortisone, and a Tinkerbell Movie from the pharmacy. She should be quickly on the mend!

"Freezing!"

This morning at school Dawson sat a-shivering. He asked me "Mom can I please turn the heat up? It's only 76 degrees!" I guess it doesn't take long to become a desert boy! Actually, I am sitting with a blanket, sweater, and slippers myself......

Flashback Friday

Since I am using this blog as a family history, I thought I'd take Aunt Jessica's advice and just blog a few past memories every Friday. It's just a baby step towards getting caught up!

This is Jeffrey December 2004. The Church History Museum for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had asked for pictures from primary children all over the world for their "Follow the Prophet" display. The pictures could be of any prophet from all of history. Of course Jeffrey's entry was Noah's Ark. Well, he turned in the picture and we never heard anything back. Since entries were being recieved from all over the world, we didn't worry too much about it. Durring December we were taking our annual tour the Christmas lights on Temple Square when we ducked into the museum to warm up a little, and there was Jeffrey's picture displayed along with art by kids from Africa, Norway, Ohio, Australia, New York.... The display was at the Museum for 6 months.

Park Days!

Now that it's cooling down - Beautiful 70's today - We have been spending our afternoons at the park. We do our literature and history lessons out in the sun. It's also a great time for Mom to read cause Sammy is entirely occupied. The bonus tracks are he's all tired out when we get home, and not too hungry since he eats 5 or 6 handfuls of sand each time we go!

Harvest

We have really been working on gathering in our food storage this year. Earlier this spring we bought a lot of bulk wheat and it has just been sitting in the storage room waiting to be properly stored. Well since Glen is out of town this week, and I get very restless when he is gone, I thought it was about time to get it done.

This morning Berkeley and I went to the cannery and bought 102 #10 cans and lids. It was a great time for practicing skip counting and multiplication. We also listened to "The Story of the World Vol. 2" on our drive and were able to finish out a unit of history! He was also excited to see how the church welfare program works. He loved watching all the volunteers working together at the cannery.Now he gets his turn to work the can sealer himself!

Jeffrey saved my back moving the wheat back and forth, but he was a total sealer hog! Sheesh! Let me have a turn too! Actually everyone took a turn at it, it was very easy.

Everyone pitched in canning, labeling, and moving the cans into the storage room. (Samuel helped out by taking a nap while we worked).

Here we are all "Safely Gathered In"

A little smile for everyone....

Before Mom Wakes Up

Yup...still brushing!

Duet

Babies get their own pumpkin post....