What's Been Going On

Here are a couple different little things that I forgot to blog about last week.

#1 Fourth of July Preschool

Last Thursday we did Preschool with our group from Provo. We only have one more preschool left with that group. We will miss them a lot. We've had so much fun getting together and doing the activities. But, I feel like it's time for Lincoln to be getting involved with our homeschool group, and in August he will be four, which is the age he needs to be to participate in the clubs and classes that they do. And I don't feel like it's a good idea for him to try and squeeze in both, because we'd never get the stuff done that I want to do with him at home. Anyways, August will be our last time meeting with that group.

Thursday was my turn, and even though the 4th was already over, I decided to keep with a fourth of July theme. We talked about how the 4th of July is our country's birthday, and some of the ways we celebrate. We had our own parade in the living room and pretended to be a band, and horses, and cars, and balloons, and pretty girls waving. Then I gave them each a flag (I picked them up at the dollar store on the 5th two for a dollar) and we talked about the colors and what the stars and stripes are for. Then I had them repeat the Pledge of Allegiance with me. Next we did a flag patterning sheet. They had to cut out pictures and place the correct picture in the blank square to complete that pattern. I think everyone did pretty well with that. For an art project we made our own fireworks using coffee filters, glitter glue, and black construction paper. I love that each one turned out so different. For a snack we made our own flags. I gave each kid a graham cracker and they had the option of decorating it with blue or white frosting and various kinds of sprinkles. They had fun with it, but I think the best part was eating them. :)

#2 Ward Picnic

Friday was our ward picnic. Everything went smoothly (the Primary was in charge). and there was plenty of food, and I think the older kids had fun with their water activity. (Big buckets of water and sponges to through at each other.) The little kids' water activity was bubbles. We had three pools filled with bubble solution and a ton of bubble wands, and pipe cleaners for the kids to make their own bubble wands. My kids were in heaven.

#3 Eye Doctor

My kids love playing dress up. Pirate seems to be their favorite thing to dress up as, but we sometimes to firefighters or construction workers too. Saturday Aaron and I both went to the eye doctor, and he had to dilate our eyes, which is where Ivan's awesome shades came from. It was my first time ever seeing an eye doctor. I've been having trouble seeing at night while I drive, and being able to read something from across the room. Turns out, I have an astigmatism. So I have to get glasses to wear while driving or doing something strenuous on my eyes (looking at a computer screen, reading, sewing) for long periods of time. I'm pretty sure that pregnancy is the cause of the decay of my vision. Lame.

#4 Our Garden

It's growing! Hooray! We have probably 20 or so tomatoes on the vine, I'm so excited. And, I've learned that if you let the suckers on the tomatoes get about 18 inches long before you pull them off, you can soak them in water and they'll sprout roots, and then you can plant them and have a whole new tomato plant. Cool! I've planted one already way in the back, and I've got three more in my window sill right now waiting to sprout roots. I also noticed while I was out there this morning, that our peas are starting to flower and so is our eggplant. By the way, does anyone know what to do with egg plant? Neither Aaron nor I have ever eaten it before, so I thought it would be fun to try out, but I have no idea how to cook one. So on the hopeful chance that we actually grow one, I'm asking for your recipes now.