Pirate Unit

I was really pleased with how my desert preschool unit turned out, but it was a lot of work to put together. So I decided that I'd do a unit from homeschoolcreations.com (since she had such cute ones and they're all put together already) in between the weeks I do the units I put together. That way, the week we do her lap books, I'll can spend my spare time putting together stuff for our up-coming unit. It's been great so far.

For the last two weeks we've been doing a pirate unit, #1 because my boys are obsessed, and #2 because I got a hold of the pirate story kit from Springville Library. (For those who don't know, a story kit is a large duffel bag with a theme, such as pirates, and it has 10 kids books inside on that theme, and a folder full of different activities, art projects, snacks, etc. that revolve around that theme. And depending on the kit, it might also have puppets, or cookie cutters, or a computer game, or some other extra. You can check them out from the library just like a book. They are REALLY cool. I wish every library did them.) I meant to only take one week on this unit, but we had so much fun with it, we ended up stretching it out over two.

My kids' favorite activity by far was making their own spy-glasses. They fold up and everything, just like a real one. Pretty cool. I'll post the instructions below, but I speak from experience when I say, use hot glue instead of tape to hold the string in place, especially if you're kids are as rough as mine. It'll hold better, and everyone (especially you) will be happier.

In the preschool pack, there is a sheet of capital and lower case letter cards. Once our spy glasses were finished, I cut out the capital letters and hid them all over the living room. Then the kids used their spy glasses to hunt for the letters. They gathered them all up and stuck them on the wall next to our preschool table. The next thing to do was put them in order from A-Z. I love this video of Linc talking himself through it.

Once he had the capital letters in order, then I gave him the lower case ones to match with the corresponding capital letter. He did really well; p,d, and b, give him a little trouble, but at 3 1/2 I think we've got some time to work on it. :)

There are about a million pirate books out there to read, but my favorites for this unit are: On a Pirate Ship by Sarah Courtauld, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon, and Shiver Me Letters! A Pirate's ABCs by June Sobel.  On one of the (few) sunny days we had last week, we took Shiver Me Letters outside and read it while sitting on the driveway. Every time the pirates in the book found a letter, Lincoln wrote it on the sidewalk to "keep track" of the ones we'd found already. :) I love sidewalk chalk, it makes practicing writing so much more fun than a pencil and paper. Linc did the entire alphabet, without help, and although not every letter was perfect, you could tell what each one was. I was so proud of him. The rain washed away his alphabet before I could get a picture of it though.

Another fun activity in the lapbook was the pirate pictures. We cut them out and taped them to straws, and while I was reading the pirate stories, if I said any of the pictures, Lincoln would hold them up. When we weren't reading stories, he still used them to act out his own stories. Linc also had fun organizing the pirate ships according to size. He insisted that the big one was Daddy's ship, the next one was mine, then his, then Ivan's, and the baby one was for Adelia. How convenient that there were five ships and five members of our family. :)

For an art project we made a parrot p out of foam and craft feathers. Lincoln and Ivan both did one, and they turned out really cute. The one pictured is Ivan's, since a couple days later Lincoln wrote his name with marker on the front of his. We got the idea for that here. She had a letter craft to go with every letter of the alphabet, upper and lower case.  Super cute! We'll be going back here often.

We did a fun moving activity called Shoot the Cannons. I taped an empty paper towel roll to the banister on the stair case. Then I had the kids put bouncy balls and ping pong balls (cannon balls) through the tube(cannon). They were running up and down the stairs and laughing. Linc even counted down before he shot his off, which I think is a remnant of our unit on astronauts.

 The preschool pack had a board game on the back that Lincoln just loved. He and I played any time he could talk me into it, and when he couldn't he just played two pieces by himself. I think I'll be trying to put more games like this into our units. They are so fun, and they reinforce counting really well.

Another fun game we played was a bigger/smaller game. I gave Lincoln a "parrot" feather and the first round he had to find five things that were bigger than his feather. He rounded up a picnic blanket, a belt from my jacket, one of Adi's dolls, a baby spoon, and two link-a-doos. For the second round, he had to find things smaller than the feather. He brought me, one Trio block, a Nerf dart, a tennis ball (it was shorter, so I let that count), a magnet off the fridge, and a Trio rod.

Here's a collage of the lapbook. On the front is Lincoln's book review, his name, and some pirate decorations. In the middle is the parrot p, the pirate vocab words, the pirate alphabet, and animal cards of some of the animals in the books we read. On the back is the board game, which can be folded up when not in use. When we put the folder away, we tuck the five pirate ships, and the straw picture puppets inside.

As a grand finale to our pirate unit, Lincoln got invited to a pirate themed birthday party! I'm sure the mom didn't plan around our pirate unit on purpose, but her timing couldn't have been better. Lincoln had to dress up for the party. Here he is on his way over there. He said he was doing a pirate smile.

Anniversary Celebration - The Real One

Aaron and I finally got away for our anniversary. We spent Thursday night in Salt Lake at the Anniversary Inn. It's a really cool place, they have themed rooms. We stayed in the Lighthouse Room.

The bed was inside the light house and it was round and had a million pillows. Above the bed, in the ceiling of the light house, there was a fish tank. In the middle of the room was a big TV and a little couch thing. And a cute little breakfast table with two chairs. The room came with a bottle of Martinellie's, two pieces of cheesecake, and a breakfast that was to die for. It was a large ham and cheese croissant, a large cinnamon roll, and we each got a cup of yogurt and granola, and juice. It was really good. The huge jetted tub was probably my favorite part, but the shower was a very close second. It was so nice to just get away and relax.

Every year since our honeymoon, we've taken a "postcard" picture of what we do to celebrate our anniversary. Every post card is of our feet in front of whatever we did that year. It's fun to flip through all the years and see the different things we've done. Here's this year's postcard.

Friday morning we decided to go and check out This Is The Place Monument. It's been a long time since either of us had been there. It was a beautiful day, and we had a good time just going around and reading all the plaques.

While reading one of the plaques, I learned that Erastus Snow was one of the first men in the company with Brigham Young to enter the Salt Lake Valley (the other was Orson Pratt). Anyways, it made me wonder if maybe Charles Erastus Swan (Aaron's great grandpa) was named after Erastus Snow. The reason I wonder this, is because Ivan is named Ivan Erastus Swan after Charles Erastus, and if Charles Erastus was named after Erastus Snow, then Ivan is indirectly named after him also. That would be cool. Here's a bit from the plaque.

After This Is The Place, we took our Subway sandwiches and went over to Kelly and Esther's house to have a picnic in they're beautiful backyard, and hang out with them and hold Baby Asher for a bit. It was nice to see them and focus on the conversation instead of on what havoc our kids were reeking.

We left Kelly and Esther's after a couple hours and decided to go check out temple square. It's been awhile since we've been there. We had a great time. We spent most of our time in the South Visitor's Center, looking at the model of the Salt Lake Temple that has the sides cut away so you can see the rooms and everything. It was really cool. We never did get a picture of it though. But we got some good ones outside.

We stopped and ate at Iggy's Sportsgrill on our way to pick up our kids. Neither of us had ever been there before, but it was really good. I was happy to learn they have one in Orem as well.

We got to my parents house right before the boys went to bed, so we got to see them. They were pretty excited to have us back. Lincoln kept saying, "My family! My family!" We spent the night in Hooper and then came home Saturday morning.

Thanks Mom and Kerry for watching the kiddos so we could have a much needed break!

Praise to the Man

Seeing these things in my own kids, gives me a testimony of the great power of music, for good or bad. I think kids can recognize the feelings different kinds of music bring out, even if they don't know what the words mean. I feel like I have a huge responsibility to really make sure that my kids listen to uplifting music. And it's kind of cool to think that now that they know the words to several hymns that those words can stick with them forever. (Don't believe me? Play your favorite song from 10 years ago and see if you still remember all the words, I bet you'll be surprised.) Maybe they'll feel like those songs, and those uplifting feelings that come with, have always been with them. (Which I'm betting they have, pretty sure there is music up in heaven.)

I don't know if every kid out there would choose to sing out loud for all to hear the way Lincoln does, that might not be their personality the way it is his, but I would bet that most kids can know the words and feel the feelings associated with the music they listen to. Otherwise why would they put such an emphasis on singing time in primary? Why would they even bother to try and teach a group of Jr Primary kids (ages 3-7) to sing a song such as Praise to the Man, which has words in it like "communed, Jehovah, anointed, dispensation, extol, revere," and so on. It's because they can do it. A two year old can learn and sing all the words to Praise to the Man, he might choose not to, or be too shy to do it in front of many people, he might stumble over a lot of the words, and he might have no idea what the song is talking about... but he can learn it. And more importantly, he can feel the Spirit that comes from it. And THAT is why music is so important for our kids. I believe that children can learn to recognize the spirit more distinctly, and at an earlier age, through music than they can through even the most well-planned lesson.

Anyways, I wanted to post these videos of Lincoln and Ivan singing Praise to the Man. I hope they'll do it just as well (or better) in the Primary program at the end of the year. :)

Stay-At-Home vs. Working Parents

This is a great article we read off of a facebook link. Aaron and I were both laughing tears by the time we were at number three. Enjoy.

Stay-At-Home vs. Working Parents
Questions to help spouses bridge the communication gap

By Heather Rigby
May 19, 2011

My husband always asks how my day went. And he really wants to know. He’s nice like that. As we slowly push the girls around in the stroller, he shares what went right during his day at the office, and I share funny things the kids said. On bad days we vent stresses and offer support and advice.

But lately I can’t help wondering if when I mention that my day was sort of stressful, he mentally thinks, “Yeah, my days are like that too.” Because I really don’t think that our days have the same sort of stresses.

When you decide to become a stay-at-home parent, you enter into a different realm — one ruled by illogical two-year-old dictators, school schedules, and choosing the correct color yogurt. As much as I can explain this to my husband, I don’t know that I’m getting through. Now I’ve done the next best thing: creating a list of questions that will help him and other office-bound parents gauge how (cough, cough) similar their days are to ours.

1.When you walked into work this morning and pleasantly greeted your co-worker Jim, was his first reaction to scream “NO! WANT JASON!" followed by an office supply being thrown at you?

2.Has a colleague ever climbed up on your lap while you were using your computer and slammed the keyboard with both fists until the up arrow no longer worked?

3.Do you have to lock yourself in the supply closet or bathroom on a regular basis in order to make phone calls?

4.Did you finish a complete thought at any time during the day?

5.When you went out to lunch with your fellow workers, did you have to pack a diaper/juice/extra outfit for them? Did you have to wipe their faces? Smile an apology and leave an extra tip for the waiter on their behalf?

6.When a co-worker needed you for something, did she sit at her desk with her head tilted back toward the ceiling and repeatedly scream “SEAN! SEEEEANNNN! SEAAAAAAN!” until you came to find him?

7.When you needed a specific colleague, did you search all over for him, only to finally find him giggling in the cabinet under the sink? Did you also find six pairs of your church shoes under there with him?

8.Have you had to come to an associate’s aid because she fell off her desk after trying to climb on top of it using a rolling chair?

9.When you reached for the report a co-worker was handing you, did he snatch them away at the last second and scream “MINE!” while shoving you backwards?

10.Does your colleague lift up her shirt and pick things out of her belly button every time she comes over to ask a question?

11.While you are using the restroom, do various co-workers come in the stall and ask you to settle a disagreement or open a packet of fruit snacks?

12.During a board meeting when everyone is present, do you notice a smell and then have to check all your colleagues’ pants to locate it? In fact, at ANY point in your day do you have to deal with another person's feces?

If the answer to most of these questions is no, it’s a safe bet to assume you’re in an office. That said, if your answer to most of these questions is yes, and you know you’re in an office, it’s safe to assume you might need a new job.

Takin' Care of Business

Aaron is pumping up the wheel on the wheelbarrow, but it looks like he's about to detonate a bomb.

Between the weather and our children, we haven't been able to get as much work done on the garden as we would have liked. Until yesterday. Ryan and Melissa offered to come over had give us a few extra hands. The soil was our first priority because it had a lot of rocks in it and is made up completely of clay. We did a lot of sifting using a sieve that Ryan had made. Then we filled up the back of Ryan and Melissa's new Jeep with compost (don't worry, we used a tarp), and spent a lot of the afternoon mixing compost into our clay to make it happy dirt.

Here's what it looked like post-compost. :) Also, ignore our grass, the owners are in the process of getting us an edger, but until they do, our yard will look a little redneck around the edges. We are also in the process of making trellises to go around the right side (by the fence) and across the back of the middle two boxes for all of our hanging/vine plants (tomatoes, squash, and peas). The farthest back right box is where we are going to plant our watermelon. The furthest back left box, we are leaving for compost. The middle right box is going to have tomatoes and squash on the outside edge by the trellis and a zucchini in the middle. The middle left box is going to have peas and cucumbers along the back by the trellis, lots of beans, onions, carrots, and some marigolds. The big box will have our four surviving giant sunflowers (that are still in my kitchen window), a few rows of corn, peppers (green and a chocolate kind that Ryan and Melissa gave us!), and tomatoes. We might try our hand at some lettuce somewhere too, but haven't decided yet. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.

Here's our gardening crew: Adelia, Aaron, Me, Ivan, Lincoln, Ryan, and Melissa. The kids actually did pretty good. Ivan and Adelia napped most of the time. And we gave Lincoln the special job of pulling the live worms out of the sieve and putting them back in the garden before they got grated into bits.

At the very end, when everyone was up, they played a super fun game, where Uncle Ryan would throw the soccer ball tied onto a rope up as high as he could in the air, and the boys would run to retrieve it after it landed. They thought that was the greatest.

Adelia tasted her first dirt ever, and her millionth grass ever, and sucked on Ryan's glasses for dessert. Doesn't she look like she's trying to be sneaky? She did a very good job of slobberifying them.

After Ryan and Melissa left, and we ate dinner and put the kids to bed, Aaron got one of our trellises put up, and I got the big garden box all measured of with string to make 1x1 foot squares. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can finish the trellises and plant our plants early next week.

Dinosaur Preschool Day

Yesterday we had our preschool group at Misty's house. She taught the kids about dinosaurs. She showed them pictures of dinosaurs in books. Then she had assembled some items in brown paper bags, and let the kids reach their hands in there to feel what a dinosaur might have felt like. Next she handed the kids each a stick with a picture of meat on it, and a stick with a picture of leaves on it, and talked about carnivores and herbivores. Then she showed the kids pictures of dinosaurs and they  had to told up the stick they thought represented what that dinosaur ate. I think the props made this activity lots of fun.

Probably the biggest hit, at least with my kids, was digging for dinosaurs. Misty had a small planter box with sand in it, and had buried plastic dinosaurs in it. She gave each kid a large paint brush and a turn to look for a plastic dinosaur. My kids loved it!

They also made dinosaur tooth necklaces, with paper teeth and little pieces of straws. My kids didn't seem really into these until we got home, and then every other second it was "Mom look at my necklace, it's a sharp tooth!" or "What is your favorite color of tooth?" Etc, etc. And they couldn't wait to show them to Aaron when he got home.

Another craft the kids did were these cute shoe print dinosaurs. Misty had the kids trace their shoe for the body, then glues cereal pieces on for the skin. Then she had a whole bunch of different colored shapes cut out that they could glue anywhere they wanted to to make their own dinosaur. And they each got two eyes. Ivan's is the top, and Lincoln's the bottom. I love that they turned out so different and both so cute.

For the last activity they got to eat dinosaur food. Misty had put lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, peas, and a couple pieces of jerky on a plate, and told the kids they had to eat it like a dinosaur. I wish I would have had my camera with me. It was so hilarious and cute. And hey, if eating like a dinosaur will get them to eat lettuce, then I'm all for it. Lincoln has been asking to eat every meal since then like a dinosaur. :) I love when preschool sticks with them.

Failure to Thrive

I absolutely loved this article in this week's Sentinel, for so many reasons. I wanted it for my own records, and decided to share.

Failure to Thrive
by Kresta George

It has been a rough couple of months at our house. We brought home a perfect and healthy baby boy and rejoiced in having him as part of our family. However, we were having some difficulties with baby number five. He was jaundiced and his billirubin levels continued to rise despite spending a week plugged in to the wall on a phototherapy light. He cried all the time and would not sleep without being held. Of course, everyone had a solution for us. Sleep him on a slant; put a ticking clock in his crib; feed him some sugar water; don’t eat anything with gluten; stay away from lactose; let him cry it out. All this advice, while offered by well-meaning friends and relatives, was not working. Finally, after weeks of crying, both mother and baby, we went back to the doctor. Upon weighing him, we discovered that this five week old baby had not gained a single ounce since birth. We were sent immediately to the hospital for some tests. The diagnosis on the lab order sheet read “failure to thrive”. I sobbed all the way to the hospital. I felt that I had completely failed my tiny little son.

As spring arrives, I reflect back on the last year of school and evaluate our progress. Are my children thriving? Is the curriculum I am using still meeting their educational needs? Generally, as we homeschool, we have no AYP to meet, no committee to write up our standards and benchmarks and convert those into learning goals for our classrooms. Many homeschooled students do not participate in standardized testing to measure their progress against other students across the nation. How do we know, then, that our students are thriving? Personally, I ask myself if my children are enjoying learning. Beyond the love of learning that I want to instill in them, there are a few other things that are important. Are they “becoming acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues and people” (D&C 90:15)? A huge responsibility rests upon our shoulders as the educators of our own children in a community where there may often be little accountability to anyone other than God and His spirits that we instruct. Are we instructing them “more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine…of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms” that they may be prepared in all things (D&C 88:77-83)?

Aside from thriving academically, I want to also make sure that my children are thriving in other areas of their lives. Not necessarily thriving in the way the world might measure my success as an educator or their adaptation into the world around them. Rather, I wish for my children a success that makes them very different from the world. For example, socially my children are very behind their peers as the world might gauge their social adaptation. My kids own no iPods or smartphones. We don’t have an x-box or a PSP. They aren’t up on the latest movies and they don’t know the words to a single top 40 song. My kids are reading Little House on the Prairie, Chronicles of Narnia and Anne of Green Gables. In our house, a world still exists where Laura looks up to her Pa, Gilbert Blythe is the kind of guy girls dream of marrying (marrying!) and good bands together to rid the world of evil. There is not a vampire book among them. And I am thankful for that.

My teenage son doesn’t spend his afternoons trying to get to the next level in the latest multi-player virtual game, but he did teach his little brother how to ride his bike. Instead of practicing applying makeup in her bedroom mirror, my ten-year-old daughter is loving learning how to change her baby brother’s diaper and helping her little sister read. In a world that is forcing children to grow up way too fast, I am happy to hang on to every minute of snuggling in the sun for read-aloud time, even if the teenager has read the book five times already. I smile to myself as I listen to my two preschool children playing with action figures in the other room as the one toy says to the other, “You will be sorry that your father joined Hitler’s team!” I make myself remain patient and not be bugged when my daughter follows right at my heels all day, wanting to be a part of everything I am doing, whether it is cooking dinner, bathing the baby or sorting the mail. I am glad that it is me that she is following and wanting to be like and learning from. And I strengthen my resolve to be a better person because I know she is watching.

Spiritually, I want my children to thrive as they are “nourished from the good word of God.” So we contrast Hitler and what he was trying to do that led to World War II with the people living after Christ visited the Americas when “there was not any manner of –ites” among them. We write comparison/contrast essays about Abinadi and Martin Luther. We talk about the code of chivalry that the knights kept in medieval times and about what Christ taught in the Beatitudes.

I think of the opposite or antithesis of that diagnosis of “failure to thrive” and I think of abundance. A child fails to thrive because something vital and necessary is lacking in that child’s daily life. So as I evaluate the school experience of the past year, and years before, I look at the abundance that is being offered to my students. What I want my children to know, more importantly that anything else that they can be taught, is who they are and that they are loved – not because they are part of the “in” crowd or because they have the right label on their jeans, but because they are sons and daughters, literal spirit children, of the God of heaven and earth. Because of that, they have enormous potential and an unlimited inheritance. And they are here on this earth to learn all that they can to be ready to become heirs to that – an abundance that they cannot comprehend. It is through teaching and learning with my children that I feel abundance in my own life. An abundance of responsibility but also an abundance of joy.

As for my littlest guy? His problems stemmed from a lack of nourishment. For some reason, baby number five was just not getting enough to eat from breastfeeding. Like homeschooling, that can be a difficult thing to measure. It had always worked before. But you probably know from homeschooling that what has worked great for one child will not always be what another child needs. Also like homeschooling, everyone had some advice for me. There were lots of tears and lots of fervent prayers (just like homeschool). Thankfully, it was something that was able to be corrected. He was put on a high-calorie formula every two hours and, in only a weekend, he gained a whole pound! Now he is thriving in an abundance of love AND nourishment.

The Things That Make Me Strange

The the older I get, and the more people that I meet, the more I am coming to the realization that I am not a normal person. For better or for worse, I am an odd ball. And as I got thinking about all the aspects that go together to make me such, I thought it might make an interesting blog post. We'll start with the biggest, most obvious one first, and then it'll go in whatever order I feel like after that.

-I do not own, nor do I care to own, a television. When I first tell people this, they automatically assume that I think television is evil. I don't. I think there are evil things on television, but there are also good things. I think people can become addicted to it, but I also think people do a good job of only watching in moderation. So if it's not evil, why don't I like it? The honest truth? TV bores me to tears. It's that simple. It does not entertain me, it does not help me relax, or give me a break after a long day. When I sit in front of a TV it makes me feel anxious and antsy. In other words it stresses me out. I will watch movies, but it's more for the social aspect. You would ever in a million years catch me watching a movie by myself. Also, I hate the idea that if I want to know what's going on in a particular show, I have to commit myself to an entire season. Gross. And commercials, don't get me started. It already irritates me that I'm subjected to so much stupid advertisement just because I choose to drive on the freeway, why I would sit down and watch it voluntarily, is beyond me.

-I dislike scrapbooking *gasp!* Yup, you read that right. I have zero talent in the cutesy department for one, so I have a lot of trouble picking out paper and decor that go well together on a page. And I hate all the gluing and cutting and stickering and cricketing (how do you even spell that?) and glittering, etc. that costs me $400 dollars per every two pictures I put down. Plus, there is never enough space for the words that I need to explain my pictures. I'll stick to blog books, thanks. They might not be as cute, but they are so much nicer for my little mind to manage.

-I do not own a bathroom scale. Never have, never will. I have no desire to be able to constantly track how much I weigh. I don't think it's important. Do I think being healthy is important? Yes. Do I believe in exercising? Yes. Do I try my best to eat healthy food? You bet. But I like to gage my health based on how I feel overall. I don't think it is healthy for people to be obsessed with the numbers on a scale.

-Aaron asked me what I wanted to do during the daytime on our overnighter in Salt Lake without the kids  that's coming up next week. I told him I wanted to go to the genealogy library. I was dead serious. I think I could spend a good chunk of my existence doing family history...if I had a chunk to spare. (I keep reminding myself all in good time, it's just not that season of my life right now.)

-Speaking of overnighters...I have no qualms about leaving my kids to go on vacation. I read other people's blogs sometimes about how they are going on a cruise for 10 days and the hardest part is going to be leaving the kids for so long, and I just stare at it blankly. I love my children dearly, but I also know that occasionally I need a break from them. If I had the opportunity to go on a ten day cruise with Aaron, the only thing I'd feel bad about is knowing that my kids would probably be hellions for whoever was watching them. I would miss them, and I would definitely think about them while I was gone, and bring them back souvenirs, but you'd better believe that I wouldn't think twice about getting on that cruise ship.

-Sometimes, I let my kids fight without stepping in, just to see if they can think of a way to resolve the situation by themselves. I feel like it's a skill they need to develop. Obviously if they are hurting each other or doing something unsafe, I'll stop it. But if they are arguing over whose turn it is, or which book they want to look at, or what game they want to play, or any other myriad of things that they argue over every single day, I watch them for awhile before stepping in, just to see what they can do. And often times, they surprise me, and resolve the issue without my help.

-I can't stand to have long finger nails. It drives me up the wall. As soon as any white is showing I clip it off.

-Someday I want to own land and have a huge garden, an orchard, chickens, and maybe a cow or two to raise for beef, and I've even thought about trying my hand at raising bees...Aaron thinks I'm nuts.

-I have never read Harry Potter, and probably never will. In my mind it seems like it would be a waste of time for me because I have soooooo many other things I want to read and learn about.

-I plan on homeschooling my kids. "But don't you want them to grow up and be normal and socialized?" Well, I guess that depends on your definition of normal and socialized. :) I feel like homeschooling offers my kids an educational lifestyle and environment where they can thrive and love learning. But when I tell this to most people look at me with blank faces and say things like, "but what about Prom?"  Like Prom should be a huge milestone of some sort. And I want to shout back, what about education, knowledge, values, learning at your own pace, not being herded like sheep, learning to get along well in society with people of all age groups, etc. etc. I often think they can't relate to me and I can't relate to them, and so people think I'm weird. The other funny thing I get from people is this. When I tell them Aaron was homeschooled, they say, "Oh, I never would have suspected him, he's so normal. When I think of homeschoolers I always think of like a geeky sci-fi person who plays virtual-reality computer games all day." Wow.

-I hate pop-culture. Despise it really.

-We don't buy freezer meals. This is one I have just barely started to notice. I guess I never realized that other people do buy freezer meals, the concept seems so foreign to me. We do noy buy Egos, Stouffers, Hot Pockets, french fries, chicken nuggets, TV dinners, or even frozen pizza. So what's in our freezer then? Meat (several pounds of hamburger, chicken breasts, and a pork loin we've cut into pork chops, are the usuals), homemade bread, frozen veggies, frozen fruit, cans of juice, ice, containers of yeast, and sometimes Dreyers all fruit popcicles, and ice cream. We buy very little out of the frozen food section. Even the meat we buy doesn't come out of the frozen section. If we do have a frozen pizza, it's because I made it and then froze it for later.

-I hate toys with batteries. If I am going to buy toys for my kids, the kind I look for are usually some sort of educational something. (And by educational I don't mean a toy that has a button for every letter of the alphabet.) My kids are the most into construction toys. So, blocks, trios, magneatos, mega bloks, wedgits, etc. I'm sure we'll eventually get to the legos and K'nex when they are a little older. If the toy is made out of wood, I'm even more happy with it. I like things that make my kids think about and come up with a way to play with that toy, as opposed to the ones that just tell you "push this button".

-I hate "dressing up". My idea of the perfect outfit is a T-shirt and jeans and some tennis shoes to go with. In this category, I might add that I hate skirts and dresses as well. I wouldn't be caught dead in a dress outside of church or a church function, wedding, or funeral. My abhorrence for skirts and dresses extends onto my daughter as well. I never dress her in a skirt or dress unless we're going to church.

-I love socks! I sleep in my socks.

-I suck at using the telephone to call people. I don't know why I am uncomfortable making phone calls, but I am. I always have been. I feel like when I talk on the phone the conversation is happening too fast for me to process it and to choose how to respond, so I feel like I always sound jumpy and rushed. Also, I am always worried I will be bothering someone when I call them. An email, no problem, they can respond when they have a second. But a phone call, you have no idea what the person you're calling is right in the middle of. And I always have this fear that I'll be bothering someone. So I never call just to chat. I make sure I always have a reason to call, a question, or something. I don't know. I know I'm totally ridiculous, but that's how I am anyway.

So there you have it. I am one weird egg. But somehow, I still manage to function in society, so I guess it's all good.

Completely Satisfied

I love our "toy room" aka, the closet/room underneath our stairs. I was so thrilled when we moved in to find out that I wouldn't have to store the toys in the middle of the living room, but that they could still be close by when the kids wanted to get them out to play. While we were unpacking, we mostly just threw all the toys in the toy room. It looked like a hurricane had been through there. There was no order. And it stayed that way for awhile, until I couldn't stand it anymore.

I had contemplated having Aaron make some shelves, but he didn't really want to. Finally I convinced him that I should buy some more white bins (I love my white bins) and that would help the problem. We took our large basket out of there, it was great in our last living room, but wasn't really functional in the toy room because it was an awkward fit. Then I organized one night while the kids were asleep, and wha-la. I am completely satisfied.

AND the kids have been pretty good about putting toys away in the drawers. In our new set of bins, I don't make them put certain things in certain drawers, that's WAY too complicated. I have learned that if I want them to put the toys away, then I just have to be happy with the fact that all the toys are in a drawer and not on the floor. :) The toys in the tall stack of bins are arranged specifically, but those are things like blocks, puzzles, the train, etc. that we only get out one drawer at a time, so that's not hard to keep organized either because they have to put the drawer away before they can get out another.

The Kid Cycle

Isn't it funny how our kids go through cycles of causing us stress? Last night was the first night in about a month (it felt like, I'm sure it couldn't have really been that long) that Aaron and I had an evening where all the kids went to sleep when we put them to bed, and neither of us had anything pressing to do, so we got to just sit down and talk. I love nights like that. :)

Anyways, I was telling him some of the things I'm concerned about with our kids, and something I said was, "You wanna know who I haven't stressed out about, or felt like I didn't know what to do with, or how to help recently? Adelia. Wow! I think I've been stressing about her since her birth, and this week I haven't even thought of her. (Not that I haven't thought about her, of course I have, but not in an at-my-wits-end kind of a way.)"

I know this picture is blurry, but I want you to note the curls above her ears and the one on top of her head (yes she looks kind of Cindy Lou Hoo-ish), there are more all over the back of her head. That means there's hope for her hair still.

Someone I have been stressing about however, is this adorable little one, right here:

His nose has been running non-stop for a couple weeks. And he has been cranky, and not sleeping very well at all. He's also not been eating much. Our whole family got colds the last week in April, but everyone's cleared up except for Ivan's. I don't know if something is going on with his milk allergy, or if he has seasonal allergies, or if it's because he hasn't been sleeping well. We (and by we, I mean Aaron) took away his binkie last week. It's not going well. He takes naps ok in the day, but at night we put him to bed at 7:30, which is normal bedtime, and then he's awake, either crying, or yelling, or playing until somewhere around 10pm he crashes. But he doesn't sleep longer in the mornings. So I don't know if the lack of sleep is making him stay sick and not want to eat, or if because he's sick, he won't eat and he can't sleep, or if it's something he's eating that I'm not aware of that he's allergic to, or what.

After doing a lot of thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that Ivan's bink is his source of comfort, a feeling of safety for him, and a way that he uses to relax his body at night to be able to sleep. Since we took that away, he feels at a lost for comfort, safety, and relaxation, and that's why he cries, or tries to avoid going to sleep. That's why we can't bribe him with getting a treat in the morning, because although he likes getting treats, the knowledge that he'll get one still doesn't provide those things that the bink used to. That's why he's fine when Aaron or I are in the room, because we also provide a sense of comfort, safety, and realization for him, but as soon as we leave, it's gone again. Since we took the binkie away, we need to come up with a way to replace it, or at least the feelings it creates in Ivan.

I was at a loss, for a lot of nights. The only thing I could think of to do was to rock him, or stay and sing to him until he fell asleep. It was stressing me out. Then Sunday night, at about 10:30pm, while I was at my wits end, and trying not to be frustrated and angry, I suddenly had a thought that the blanket I was attached to as a kid was in a rubbermade box in our garage. I had seen it the other day when I was looking for something else. I thought to give it a try. I asked Ivan if he would like to have a very special blanket to replace his bink. He said yes. I went and got it. It's very silky and soft. I wrapped it around him and rubbed the soft corner on his face. I even told him that when I was little, I used to suck on the corners, and that he could do that if he wanted to. After singing him one more song, he went to sleep without anymore complaint. Last night, same thing, I made a big deal about his special blanket. We put him to bed at bedtime, and didn't hear another thing. I'm trying not to cross my fingers that this is solved, but it would be really nice. 

He still isn't eating much, and his nose is still running, and he's still cranky, but maybe if we can get a little more sleep in his system, those things will start to clear up. I surely hope so. 

As I was bouncing all these thoughts off of Aaron last night, and telling him that I didn't know what else to do. He suggested that we start up our green shakes again. During the middle of winter, I stopped doing them, because it was making me cold to drink a smoothie for lunch. But, those shakes were a really good source of nutrients for all of us, but for Ivan especially. AND the shakes are something that he usually likes. So we're going to get those going again. I hope it helps.  

Flower Preschool and a Beautiful Day

The sun was out today, and it was wonderful! It was also my turn to host preschool. The theme for the month is Mother's Day, but Suzy did such a great job covering it last week, that I didn't really feel like any more needed to be said. But, I thought, mothers do like flowers (at least this mother does), so I thought we'd base our day around flowers.
I've been saving formula cans, for awhile now, so I had more than enough for each kid to get their own can. We started off by painting the cans, that way they'd have time to dry before we planted the flowers. I think all the kids liked painting. I know mine always do.

Next I had all the kids get out their scissors. Impromptu, I decided to throw in a small lesson on scissor safety. I still remember learning scissor safety at Bev's preschool. :) So we talked about the sharp side of the scissors, and how to hold the sharp side in your fist when you're walking, so that you don't accidentally poke yourself or your neighbor with them. Then I had the kids get up and walk very slowly and carefully around the living room with their scissors, to practice. I have no idea how that went over.

Then, back at the table, I gave each kid a page with the parts of a flower on it, their job was to cut out each individual part. I had to help Ivan, but he's getting really good and listening and opening his scissors when I say open, and closing them when I say closed. Lincoln is getting to be a great cutter, he did his all by himself, and the only thing he cut in half was the stem. I love when I see improvement!

Sometimes one of the kids in the group will finish what we're doing ahead of all the other kids, and then they get bored ans restless. I've been reading in my book Raising Your Spirited Child (more about that later), and one of the things they suggest in there, especially for young, energetic boys, is to give them a job that allows them to move around a little, instead of patronizing them to sit down and be quiet and hold still. So I had an opportunity to try it today, one of the kids finished cutting before all the others, and so I asked him if he could be my special helper. I told him I had a job I needed him to do, and then I let him pass out the glue to all the other kids while they finished cutting. I feel like this was positive. He felt like he was important and being a helper, which he was, and no one had to try to get him to hold still, be quiet, or stay out of things. Everyone wins in a situation like that.  The kid feels good about himself, the teachers/parents don't get frustrated, and a job that needs doing gets done. I can't wait to try it out more often.

After our flower pieces were cut out, we talked briefly about what each part of the flower did for the whole plant. The roots get food and water from the soil for the rest of the plant. The stem is like a highway for the food/water to travel on. The leaves catch the sunlight, which the plant needs to allow the food and water from the roots to be turned into something it can use. And the flower attracts the bees which pollinate it, and allow it to make seeds that will eventually turn into new flowers.

Then the kids glued the pieces of the flower together onto another piece of paper. On the other paper, was a blank space for them to glue their flower on, and on the other half, the words flower, leaves, stem, and roots directly across from their corresponding part of the flower. The kids were to trace the letters and then try writing their own in the blank space after the letters. Then draw a line from the word to the part of the flower it described. Lincoln did an awesome job, he traced all the words without any help, and then wrote the words after with only a little help from me (he occasionally had to ask me what letter came next in the word he was trying to write, but I never touched his marker, he did it all by himself). Ivan did about as well as a two year old possibly could. He scribbled on top of the words. Even though he didn't actually trace them, I thought it was good that he could distinguish which ones he was supposed to be writing on.

Last, we went outside to our garden box, and everyone got to fill their formula container with dirt and their choice of a yellow or orange marigold. I know, marigolds are like the worst flower there is, but they were cheap :) and they supposedly keep bugs away from the garden. So that's what we did.

After everyone had gone home, and lunch and naps had been had at our house, Lincoln and I went outside. I wanted to see if he remembered anything about the parts of a flower, so I had him draw them for me on the sidewalk with chalk. He did awesome. He got all the parts right, and remembered what the job of the roots was. He even drew some water for the roots to have, and a big bright sun for the flower.

We had more fun with the chalk too. I had Lincoln lay down and I traced an outline of him. He thought it was funny because he was wearing a hat, and holding his sword made of Trios. Then we had him stand up straight and I drew his shadow. We compared how they were different. I think some day, when he's a little older, it would be fun to go out every hour or so and have him stand in the same spot, and redraw his shadow, so he could see the movement of the sun.

Adelia woke up and we brought her outside with us. We put her in her new sun hat. She didn't love it as much as I do. But she still looked cute. Ivan woke up too and came out to play. Next door, were some neighbor boys riding their bikes. I told Linc to go make friends with them. He marched right over and said, "My name is Lincoln Aaron Swan." Then he came running back over to me, "Mom, Mom! I have a new Nathan!" Nathan is Lincoln's good friend who lives in our apartment complex back in Provo, and the kid's name next door is also Nathan. So, in Linocln's mind I'm sure it was something like, well we have a new house and we have a new Nathan. So funny. Anyways, Lincoln and Ivan rode bikes with the two boys back and forth between our drive way and theirs. I think it was good for the kids to finally feel like they have some friends around here.

Desert Unit

For the last two weeks Lincoln and I have been working on learning about the desert. I was reading in one of my preschool books and came across a list of things a preschooler should know before kindergarten. One of the things on the list under General Knowledge said that children should be able to recognize and name animals and their habitats, such as farm, ocean, jungle, and desert. Both my kids have a good understanding of the farm, but I wasn't sure about the others. So, that's how this unit on the desert came to be. We'll probably cover jungle and ocean fairly soon too. I really liked the astronaut lap books we did last time from homeschoolcreations.com, but they don't have a desert unit. So I ventured out and attempted to make my own, using theirs as a model. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too. Here is the PDF if anyone is interested. I am willing to share it for free, but it's for personal use only, so no selling it. :) And if you do use it, please share your thoughts, I'd love to see it in action in other places too.

Desert Unit

I wasn't sure if Lincoln would find the desert very interesting, but he LOVED this unit, I would say at least as much as the astronaut one. One of the first activities we did was to make a diorama of the desert. It turned out really cute, I thought.

I got a whole bag full of books about the desert from the library, but the two we ended up using most were
-The Seed and the Giant Saguaro by Jennifer Ward
-Way Out in the Desert by T.J. Marsh

We also watched The Magic School Bus episode All Dried Up, quite a few times. You can find it on youtube. For some reason Magic School Bus does a fantastic job of explaining a lot of information in a small amount of time and in a simple and clear way. My kids love it.

We still did book reviews and writing our name in this unit. I've decided that Linc can write really well when he wants, but if he doesn't want there is nothing you can do to make him. It's almost humorous. But something I did this time to help make it more fun, was that instead of every name tag being the same, I put different animals on each one and he got to pick which desert animal he wanted to be for the day. He liked that, especially the day he picked to be a scorpion.

We had a fun desert song that we sung to the tune of the wheels on the bus. Here are the lyrics:

The rattlesnake in the desert goes hiss hiss hiss

hiss hiss hiss
hiss hiss hiss
The rattlesnake in the desert goes hiss hiss hiss
All night long!

The jackrabbit in the desert hops like this
hops like this
hops like this
The jackrabbit in the desert hops like this
All night long!

The roadrunner in the desert runs fast like this
runs fast like this
runs fast like this
The roadrunner in the desert runs fast like this
All night long!

The gila (pronounced hee-la) monster in the desert crawls slow like this
crawls slow like this
crawls slow like this
The gila (pronounced hee-la) monster in the desert crawls slow like this
All night long!

The scorpion in the desert stings like this OUCH!
stings like this OUCH!
stings like this OUCH!
The scorpion in the desert stings like this OUCH!
All night long!

Other things we did were recognizing starting sounds, patterning, grouping, working with numbers and some tracing. The activity Lincoln liked the most was the one where he cut out different pictures and had to paste them in the "Desert Things" column, or the "Non-Desert Things" column. We also did one that had 10 different pictures of cactus that were missing their spines. Each cactus had a number by it 0-10 and he was supposed to draw the same number of spines on the cactus as the number next to it. He liked that one a lot too, and did pretty good.

One of the days during our desert unit, I was in charge of teaching our preschool group, so I just kept with the desert theme because it was easier than going off topic. With all the kids we had a "roadrunner relay", which means I took them out in the back yard and had them run from one end to the other pretending to be different desert animals (hop like a jack rabbit, slither like a snake, run on all fours like a javelina, etc.). They had a great time.

Then we came inside and made cactus out of ceramic salt clay.

How to make a salt dough cactus:

1 cup salt
½ cup cornstarch
¾ cup water
Saucepan
Wooden spoon
Stove
Green food coloring
Spaghetti noodles

1. Cook the clay ingredients over medium heat in a saucepan. Add green food coloring until desired green color is achieved. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens into a ball. Remove from heat and place on a piece of foil to cool. Knead the dough thoroughly.

2. Shape into a cactus shape.

3. Break spaghetti noodles into small pieces and stick them into the cactus sculpture for spines/needles.

*Salt ceramic clay often needs to be re-kneaded to make it smooth and pliable again.
*Clay can be stored in an airtight plastic bag until ready to use.
*Salt ceramic dries to a rock hardness without being baked. It takes a few days.

After Lincoln's cactus dried, we put it in his desert diorama with his desert animals. He thought that was cool.

But I think our unit was a success. Lincoln can name the desert animals, and tell you a few of the ones that eat each other. My favorite word to hear him say is javelina. It sounds so cute coming out of his little mouth. He can tell you that if you plant a cactus seed, then a cactus is what it will grow into. He's getting a lot better at recognizing patterns and reproducing them. And he's a pro at starting sounds. I think next time I might try ending sounds, because starting sounds are not even a challenge for him. I love seeing him make progress and being so into the topics we learn about. Linc kept asking me if we could go to a real desert some day (so Stace, maybe we'll be coming out sooner than later).

Anyway, I was also pretty proud of myself for putting this unit together. It's far from perfect, but I learned a lot doing it, and I think next time I'll be able to do it even better. But feel free to check out the PDF (the link is at the top) and tell me what you think. Also, don't judge my unit by my inability to take photos of it. :)

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Tidbits

-I had a wonderful  Mother's Day. Aaron was amazing, he got all the kids fed and dressed for church so that I could take my time getting ready. He kept Adelia the last two hours so I could concentrate on my new calling without her as a distraction (more about that in a sec), he made all of us my favorite lunch of grilled tuna sandwiches. He put the kids down for naps, so I could take a nap. He watched and played with the kids, so that I could make dinner uninterrupted in the kitchen. (He probably would have made me dinner, but I opted to cook because I enjoy it.) Then we put the kids to bed, and he helped me work on the blog book. It was such a peaceful relaxing, low-key day, and that's exactly what I wanted. :)

-I have a new calling. I am the second counselor in the Primary! Yikes! I haven't been in Primary since I was a kid in Primary. And the last presidency I was in was my Laurels class. So...I have a lot to learn. But I'm really excited about it. I think I'm really going to like the other ladies in the presidency. It's going to be fun to see what my kids are learning about each week and because of that I'll be more involved in what they are learning and can see the areas where they need help. I just feel bad that Aaron will probably end up with Adelia most all of church every week.

-Aaron decided (without consulting me about it) to cut a hole in the top of Ivan's binkie. So I guess we're taking it away now, unless I get desperate and go buy another one. He only uses at night and nap to sooth himself to sleep. Once he falls asleep he spits it out, and doesn't need it anymore unless he wakes up. Right now I'm listening to him scream his head off because neither of us can think of anything else to do to calm him down aside from laying in bed with him, and I'm wondering, is a binkie really such a bad thing? Really? Why the drama over it? Why can't he just keep it until he decides he's finished with it. Lots of kids suck their thumb for lots longer than 2 and they don't seem to be traumatized by it. It's not like we haul it around everywhere we go. He only gets it if he's in his bed, so it's not impairing his speech. And as for the shape of his mouth and jaw or whatever that concern is, if he has any of my genes his mouth will be completely messed up and he'll need braces anyway. Blah! I hate trying to get kids to transition, it makes me cranky.

-As much as I've been craving the sunshine and warm weather, I have really enjoyed the rain the last few days. It's been peaceful and calming to me. Especially while laying in bed at night with the window open and the cool air coming in. Being able to actually hear the rain on the roof and the windows is something I love, and didn't realize how much I missed (we were in a basement apartment before, so we couldn't really hear it).

-Preschool is at my house this week. I finally decided that we are going to learn about flowers, and have been preparing for it all day today. I'm excited and hope it turns out.

-Feeling a little bombarded in the scheduling department. I'm trying to limit the amount of time and distance that I have to go in the car, while still trying to meet the social needs of my children. We have lots of naps schedules to work around, and I'm sure my new calling is going to take a little bit of time, I want to start attending the local homeschool group so that I can get familiar with my resources and also so that we can start making friends with people that are doing the same things we are. I'm trying to decide how long to keep Lincoln in the Provo preschool group, and I'm feeling like it's time to start doing letter days with Ivan. Then there's story time, grocery shopping, visiting teaching, making sure the kids get enough outside time, gardening/yard work, running Aaron to work and picking him up so I can have the car, our once a month family parties in Hooper, and on and on.  So many good options to chose from but I'm finding that I don't have time for it all without majorly stressing myself and my kids to the max. But saying no can be so hard to do. 

-Are all four year-olds bossy, physical, and loud? I'm getting so sick of it, and I'm wondering if it's normal, or if I'm doing something majorly wrong as a parent.

-The post office here closes at 4:30pm. Seriously? LAME. I hate taking three kids into the post office, there is way too much for them to get into. I used to be able to go really fast right after Aaron got off work, but how am I supposed to do that when they close at 4:30?

-Aaron should be turning his thesis into his committee tomorrow! Hooray!

-Does it ever surprise you, the people that read your blog? Sometimes it surprises me. Not that I mind, I don't, as long as you aren't a creeper, please feel free. If I minded, my blog would be private. But sometimes people will comment, or say things to me in person, and I'm just like, "Hmmm, I had no idea." And then I wonder what makes this blog so appealing for people who hardly know me, or only knew me when I was growing up? If any of you would like to comment on that, I'm so curious to know. :) I guess I don't feel like my life is all that exciting or different from anyone else's.

-Our Internet sucks.

-I should probably be cleaning my kitchen right now, but frankly, I cleaned, and folded, and wiped, and organized, and played with kids, and read stories, and listened to people whine, all. day. long. The kitchen was clean once today, and I am not cleaning it again today, because whether I do or not, I'll still have to clean it again tomorrow, and I'm on a one-major-clean-per-day-per-room kick right now. So ya, I'm still going to sit here and blog until bed time. Judge if you will.

-There are no pictures to go with this post. I hate when that happens.

-Ok, I think I'm out of things to say.

A Tribute to Mothers Everywhere

My Mom gave me a book by Hilary Weeks for Mother's Day (ya, my Mom gives ME a present, I know...don't worry, I gave her one too) and the book came with Hilary's CD called Parodies, which has several hilarious songs on it. The songs having been helping me add a little laughter to several recent stressful days I've had. This song is my favorite, and so I want to share it with you all on this Mother's Day.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

How We Celebrated...Today at Least

We had big plans to celebrate our 5 year anniversary by spending the night at the Anniversary Inn. But we had an awful, stressful week. We've all been sick, which means everyone is cranky, and the kids haven't been sleeping very well, which makes us all even more cranky. Plus, Aaron has been trying very hard to finish up his thesis and get it in to his professor for review, before his professor leaves town for a month. Aaron is so close to finishing, and really wants to have the thing turned in so he can schedule his defense for the first week of June. Once his defense is finished, he'll have to make a few minor changes that his committee has for him, and then submit it to the library. Once it's submitted, he's as good as graduated. Needless to say though, this week wasn't the best of weeks to drop everything and go on an overnighter. So we've postponed that, to hopefully a not to distant time in the future. (I'll admit I was still cranky about it, even though I know it is for the best. We'll have more fun when we aren't stressed out or sick.)

Instead, Friday was a very typical day. Lincoln discovered how to climb the tree in our back yard. We made some hand print Mother's Day flowers to send to Aaron's mom and mine from the kids. (Mom and Debbie, they will be late...sorry, doing my best.)

When Aaron got home, we thought we might go buy a metal fire pit and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. We found a nice cast iron one...but it was over $300 dollars. We found a $50 one at WalMart, but it looked like it was going to fall apart any second. So the fire pit was a no go. Instead we ended up roasting our hot dogs and marshmallows in our tiny charcoal grill that has been through the war.

I was glad we did this, because now I am keenly aware of the fact that my children are still not old enough to take camping. If they can't handle roasting a hot dog in the middle of the driveway in broad daylight, they'll never be able to do it in the woods at night. So thanks to today, we can put off camping for a few more years.

After hot dogs we put the kids to bed and then invited our neighbors across the street over for S'mores. It was fun to talk to them and get to know them a little bit better. I have no idea if they thought we were psycho for roasting marshmallows in our driveway, but they went along with it. They are very nice, and I hope we can hang out with them again soon.

Happy five years to us. May our night away come sooner rather than later. :)

April Lincoln Liners and Ivan-isms

Lincoln Liners

Linc and Ivan playing in the coat closet together. L: "Ivan stop hitting the jackets!"

I: "I hitting the jackets!"
L: "Ya, but they're nice jackets."

"I should be a Nephite. Maybe someday, when I have a pokey stick."

"Mom, sometimes when ya touch a door knob it gives ya lightning and makes atricity (electricity)."

"Mom, I think my hair grows slow, and gently, gently up."

L: "Mom, is your potty a magic potty?"
Me: "Huh? What would make it a magic potty?"
L: "Well if I just needed to be careful not to get pee all over it."
Me: "Yup, it's definitely a magic potty then."

Aaron was taking a rest in the middle of the living room floor, after wrestling with the boys, L was sitting on top of Aaron and said, "Mom, Daddy's dead."

"Mom, my tummy looks thirsty. It doesn't have any water or milk in it."

"But Mom, are you right about the world?"

I had all three kids in the bathtub, while I was washing Ivan's hair, Lincoln began running his fingures through Adelia's and singing, "Bring back what once was mine. Bring back what once was mine." Ya, we've been a little into Tangled at our house. :)

L: "Mom, is it Gramma's birthday today?"
Me: "Yes."
L: "Does she want to share her cake with us?"

Lincoln was saying prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, grateful for the breakfast, please bless the breakfast, glad that Kelly could go to Mongolia on his mission (Kelly is Aaron's twin brother, he's been home his mission for 6 years now), bless Ivan that he can be happy and take a nap, thankful that Adelia can eat her breakfast, and that Daddy can ride the bus to work safely to work on his paper. Amen. I did a good one!"

Ivan-isms

L: "I love you!"

I: "I love me too!"

Me: "Ivan, it's time to get up bud."
I: "Don't wake me up!!" and putting his blanket up over his head.

"Where's Daddy Boy?"

"Jesus got owie, Mommy. Jesus got owie. Gib Jesus band-aid!"

Five Years Worth

Today is our five year anniversary. Five years. The seems like a long time, but not very long at all. When we first got  married I never thought we'd get to the point where we could say we'd been married five years. (Not because I didn't think we'd last five years, I knew we would, it just seemed like so far out there in the future.) But here we are. It's been one wild ride. If things had gone according to the original plan, we'd just be starting to have kids. (We can all see how well we followed the plan!) And we'd be the owners of our own home, and we'd be spending our anniversary in Hawaii. What can I say, you dream big when you first get married. And even though our plans have gone in quite a different direction than we originally thought, I wouldn't change them. We can still have some of those other dreams (now we just have a more realistic time frame for them.), but I'm so happy with where we are right now. Life isn't perfect, but there are moments when I feel like it's pretty close. I want to share some of those moments from the past five years. Buckle up for picture overload.

 The first picture ever taken of Aaron and I together. We weren't dating yet, we were in awkward stage.

The picture we sent home to Aaron's parents to show them who he was dating. (Talk about a first impression, sheesh.)

I took Aaron on a surprise date to the Mayan

Multnoma Falls in the Gorge. This was during the trip I went to WA to meet Aaron's family.

Same trip. These are Aaron's K'nex and our St Louis Arch.

We hiked Squaw Peak in Provo one night in the snow, this is at Denny's afterward.

We were engaged February 10th 2006

Married May 6th 2006 in the Bountiful, UT temple

Honeymoon to Houston, TX. This is our sand castle at Galveston Beach.

Still on our honeymoon. This is us at the Astros baseball game.

BYU Homecoming, 2006

Aaron's birthday dinner at Brick Oven in Provo, 2006

We moved to Phoenix in May 2007. This is the pool at our apartment complex.

Fourth of July 2007 in Phoenix. That's Lincoln in my belly.

Lincoln Aaron Swan was born August 10th, 2007, in Phoenix. We become a family of three!

Lincoln's blessing, in Hooper, UT the first week in September 2007

We moved to Richardson, TX in January 2008

The Dallas Zoo

Our 3rd anniversary May 2008

Swan Family reunion, WA  June 2008

Making wood blocks for Lincoln for Christmas 2008.

Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert December 2008

Baby Moon to the Oregon Coast, January 2009

Ivan Erastus Swan is born March 18th 2009, making us a family of four!

Ivan's blessing in Provo, UT the first week of May 2009

Four-wheeling in Spencer, ID May 2009

Swan Family June 2009

Aaron graduates with his bachelors in Electrical Engineering from BYU, August 2009

Halloween October 2009

BYU Homecoming, October 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 with Stacey's family in Phoenix, AZ

Christmas 2009

Ryan and Melissa's wedding April 2010

Horning's Hideout, WA June 2010

Passing the time until Adelia would come, July 2010

Adelia Mae Swan is born August 3rd 2010, making us a family of five!

Adelia's blessing in Provo, UT the first week in September 2010

Bridal Veil Falls, Provo Canyon 2010

Squaw Peak, Provo UT 2010

Pumpkin patch, Santaquin, UT 2010

Christmas 2010 in WA. This is at Lisa's house.

Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life, February 2010

It's been one heck of a five year stretch. I have so many wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing them with me Aaron, they wouldn't have been nearly as meaningful or enjoyable without you. Here's to five more wonderful years! (If you thought this post was long, just think how long the 10 year one will be!)