Keepin' Cool

Grandma Swan and I took the Bailey kids and my kids to the splash pad at the Riverwoods this morning. The kids got to cool off and get some of their energy out. Afterwards we had a nice picnic lunch with Ryan and Melissa on their front lawn. It was another fun summer day for the Swans!

Granny Jan Comes to Visit

Ivan, Gran, and Lincoln

Today we got a special treat. My grandma (aka Granny Jan) is in town visiting my mom for a few weeks, and today they came down to Springville to visit us and see the new house. My kids were thrilled to add another grandma to their list. :) (They've met Gran before, but she lives in Missouri with my Aunt Nan, so her visits are few and far between.)

We always love having my mom visit too, so we got a picture of her too. Adelia was napping, so she missed out on pictures. Sorry Del.

Krishna Lotus Temple

Today we went on a field trip with our homeschool group to the Krishna Lotus Temple. Grandma and Grandpa Swan and the three oldest Bailey cousins came with us.

We got to watch one of the workers feed the Japanese Koi fish in the pond. They have them trained so that when you clap your hands really loudly, the fish come swimming up to the edge and start jumping up out of the water. They were pretty big fish, and fun to watch.

Then we went over and got to feed and pet the llamas. All the llamas were really well trained, and didn't seem to mind 3 dozen kids running around in the pen with them. Audrey and Bennett and Lincoln even got to lead a llama around by it's halter for a little bit.

 Adelia feeding the llamas

 Bennett leading a llama

 Lincoln and a llama

 Jeremiah and the baby llama. It was only 3 months old. Jeremiah decided it was a little bigger than his baby sister Claire. :)

 Audrey and a llama with the Krishna Lotus Temple behind.

Besides the llamas, we also got to see peacocks, parrots, and some holy Indian cows. The cows are really small - smaller than the llamas - and have a big hump on the back of their necks, kind of like a camel, that they store food and water in. The kids got to feed the cows too. Lincoln decided he liked feeding llamas better, because the cows made his hand all slobbery.

Lincoln looking at the parrot

After seeing all the animals, we got to go inside the temple for a little tour. In the upstairs room we met a man who taught the kids some yoga. He explained that some people believe that yoga is a way for your body and your mind and your spirit to connect with God. One of the yoga moves that he did was to lie on his back and hold one of the kids up in the air with his feet. Audrey and Jeremiah both got to give that a try. Another cool thing the guy did was to stand in a hand-stand and while doing so cross his legs Indian-style in the air and then curl them up against his chest. He stayed balanced on his hands the whole time. It was pretty impressive. We got to follow him in some very simple yoga moves.

 Jeremiah flying through the air, with the help of the yoga instructor. 

Adelia showing off her new yoga moves.

When the tour was finished we went outside and had a little picnic of pb&j and cut up veggies (they ask that you not bring meat to eat when you visit, since part of their religion is being vegetarian). It was a fun day and a fun field trip.

Lincoln Liners/Ivan-isms

Lincoln Liners

"Mom, I think the bread should wear bread-screen in case it falls into the toaster on accident, then it won't get burned." 


L: "Mom, I need a new band-aide, my old one isn't working anymore."
Me: "It looks like your owie stopped bleeding, you probably don't need another band-aide on it."
L: "But it's still hurting."
Me: "Band-aides won't stop it from hurting."
L: "I know, but I just don't want anyone to be able to see my hurting spot."


Aaron: "Linc, what did you learn about during school today?"
L: "Well there was this king and he wanted the people to pay money to make drink. And the people didn't like it. And then the king got angry and sent soldiers. So the people and the soldiers were fighting. And then the soldiers left. And that's why we have Firework Day." 


"That guy has a very sharp knife. Never, never buy one of those, ok Ivan? Remember that when you're a parent."


"Hey Mom, do you know what's happening to my heat? It's wiggling away from me and out into the air."


"Gingamore means they know how to take care of a good house."


"Mommy, *long, deep sigh* I wish we had an ant-eater." 


I: "I have a little (imaginary) mouse in my hand!"
L: "I killed your mouse."
I: "wahhhhaaaaa! *Sniff, sniff* Well, now I have a new nice mouse in my hand."
L: "I killed that mouse too."
I: "Waaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaa!"
Me: "Lincoln, that's not nice. I don't want to hear you say the word kill again."
L: "But I can say killer whale, because there's a whale on the end. Killer whale! Killer whale! Killer whale!" 

Ivan-isms

Me: "Who's excited to go to the grassland show at the library and see the animals this morning?"
Ivan: "Umm, is there going to be a hydra?"
Me: "I don't think so."
Linc: "What about a little hydra with only 3 heads?"
Me: "Nope."
Linc: "C'mon Ivan, lets go play in the toy room."

Me: "Ivan how did your face get so dirty?"
Ivan: "I have magic in my throat and it makes all the colors come out."
Me: "And that's what makes your face dirty?"
Ivan: "It's magical."

Ivan: "Mom! I said I want to wear a t-shirt!"
Me: "That is a t-shirt."
Ivan: "No it's not, it doesn't have a t on it, this one has a t on it see? See that t. It's a t-shirt." 

Twinkle Lullaby (Twinkle Little Star) - ThePianoGuys

We've been watching The Piano Guys on youtube for awhile now. All their videos are really cool. I love this Twinkle Star one though, it's peaceful and reminds me of rocking a sleeping baby. If I listen to it with my eyes closed, it's like a deep breath of fresh air. (For whatever reason, this video doesn't work in Firefox, but is will work in Internet Explorer...go figure.)

Ugh, Can This Week Be Over?

For starters, does anyone know how to get acrylic paint out of carpet? Secondly, would anyone like to adopt my lovely, energetic almost-two-year-old daughter for about a year and then send her back? I'm pretty sure I can't go through the terrible twos again and come out with my sanity intact. Somehow today, in about .5  seconds, she managed to get into a child locked cabinet and dump a bunch of bright yellow craft paint all over herself, the cabinet, and the carpet. Joy. Other criminal charges being held against her in the last couple of weeks: dumping an entire bottle of baby bubble bath on her bedroom carpet; covering her entire body in lotion; dumping out a full mop bucket; and my personal most-disgusting-clean-up-ever finger painting all over her bedroom walls in poop. Super. And she's not even two yet. 

 I'm having a grumpy week. I don't know why. I've been having a really rough time being patient with my kids and my husband. I'm also feeling extremely unmotivated. I hate weeks like this. I go through them every now and again. I'm having a hard time shaking this one. I'm just grumpy!

I want to write, because sometimes that helps get the stress out of me; relieving stress tends to make me less grumpy. But I don't know what to write about. I am hoping if I just start typing, then things will start tumbling out. We'll see.

I like to use my blog as a type of journal. But the only problem with this type of journal is that it's extremely open. So when I need/want to write about something more private I don't feel like I can here, because I can't sensor who reads it. And I've become really deterred from physically writing in a journal, because it takes up so much more time than typing does, and I can't write my thoughts as fast as my brain can express them. And it makes my hand hurt.

So I guess we'll put it this way: I'm feeling stress and pressure and I'm not sure what I can do about it. I'm not even exactly sure why I feel stress and pressure, just that I do. I'm also feeling overwhelmingly unorganized. I've been blaming it on summer, but I'm not 100% convinced. I feel like I need to drop things from our schedule because I feel frantic all the time, and like I am always chaotically running from point A to point B to point C with no real strategy for the best, most efficient way to go about it. A random example: I'll find that I have 30 minutes between two activities, and decide I can squeeze in a much-needed trip to the grocery store. When I get to the store, I have no list, and only a vague idea of what I even need. I end up making poor choices and spending too much money on what I bought, only to realize when I go to make dinner later, that there is still nothing to eat in the whole house that can be called dinner.

The reason we run around like crazy people is fairly simple. I try to create lots of opportunities for my kids to socialize with other kids, I try to give them experiences that will be educational, and I try to give them a chance to be outside. So we spend time participating with our home school group in their activities, lots of time staying in touch with friends from different places that we've lived, time at parks or in the mountains, time with our family who lives close, time at places like the zoo or the aquarium etc. I can't figure out what needs to go because everything seems important.

I am also feeling an intense longing for a little bit of freedom. I love my children dearly, but they are stifling. I spend pretty much, 24/7 with them all day every day. If there is a big project or goal that I need or want to get done, I have to figure out a way to do it with the children in tow. If Aaron gets a call to, say, help someone move, or put in a sprinkler line, or go give a blessing, etc. He gets to go off and do it and leave the kids with me. If I get a call to take someone dinner, or watch someone's kids, I end up trying to cook two dinners with three children pulling on my legs, or watching more children on top of my three. I am a mommy every night,  every weekends, and all holidays, as well as the regular 9-5, and I do not get a 15 minute break for every 4 hours that I work, nor do I get a lunch break. I'm not trying to infer that Aaron doesn't work hard; he does. He's a good dad, a good husband, and a good engineer. What I'm trying to point out is that he gets to break up his day a little. He wakes up and works on Ryan's website in the mornings; then switches gears and goes to work; then switches gears again and comes home to be daddy and husband. He gets to change mind set at least 3 times during his day. I'm just in perpetual mommy-mode. Which isn't always a bad thing, it's just an always thing.

More Patriotic Art Projects

We did a couple more art projects for the 4th of July that I didn't have time to post about last week. You know me and hand-print art...so I couldn't pass up these awesome fireworks. Trace the kids' hands on red card stock or construction paper and glue it onto black. Then use glitter glue to make the sparkles from the fireworks.  I don't know about your kids, but mine love glitter glue, and they were thrilled to have a reason to get it out. (BTW, you can buy 6-packs of glitter glue at the dollar store, ya, for a buck.)

 Adelia and I teamed up to make one really big firework and two little ones.

We also made these really cool American flags:

I just hot glued 6 jumbo craft sticks together, then helped Ivan and Adelia paint a blue square (Lincoln managed his by himself, his is the bottom left.) And then they painted every other stick red and white. I helped Adelia a lot (ours is the top one), and Ivan did his by himself (bottom right). When the paint was dry we put on silver star stickers. This step is optional, but I decided to glue a little circle magnet on the back of each one; so our flags hang on out fridge. Fun, fun.

No More Training Wheels

Aaron has been working with Lincoln the last couple of days teaching him how to ride his bike without training wheels. I don't know why, but for some reason that just seems like a dad job. So Aaron has been working with him for a few minutes after work every day.

Lincoln is now training wheel free. He can start going all by himself, and stay up all the way to the stop sign (about 4 houses), then the he stops, gets off, turns his bike around and comes back. All Linc needs now is a little bit more practice and then he'll be confident enough to go tearing around the neighborhood at top speed.

I don't think we'll ever use training wheels again for any of our other kids. Ivan has gotten so good on his balance bike, that I think he'll just transition straight from it to a bike with pedals. And once Ivan's riding a pedal bike, we'll put Adelia on the balance bike, and so on. No more training wheels for this family. :)

4th of July 2012

 The main thing we did to celebrate the 4th this year was to go to the Freedom Festival's hot air balloon show in Provo. We had to get up early (5am) to get everyone ready and be there in time to see them blow up the balloons, but it was totally worth it. I made muffins the night before, so we just packed those and juice and had a breakfast picnic on the field while we watched them blow up the balloons.

Aaron's parents decided to come with us, and it was fun having them along. We are excited that they will be officially living in Springville on Saturday. My kids have never had any of their grandparents live close enough to see more than a couple times a month, so this will be great for them too.

The Coca Cola balloon was my favorite. It was HUGE! 180-something feet tall. 

I didn't take any pictures of the rest of the day, but we did have fun. After the balloons, Chuck and Debbie left to go down to St. George to spend a couple of days with Lisa's family. Aaron and the kids and I went home and had naps. Then, in the afternoon we went back up to Provo and wandered through the tents and events down there. We ended up with some free ice cream; watching an awesome reptile show; and getting the kids' faces painted.

Then we came home and had Ryan and Melissa over for a delicious 4th of July dinner that included pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, watermelon, salad, and s'mores.

We had planned to go back over to our old neighborhood for fireworks, but the kids were really wound, and on the verge of falling to pieces, so....instead we opted to put them to bed. Then Aaron and I watched Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows.

Book Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, but it wasn't anything terribly awe-inspiring or thought provoking. The love story was cute and clean, if a little cheesy and far-fetched in parts. It was about a part of history that I really knew nothing about before reading this book.

I wish it would have gone a little deeper into the Japanese internment camp part. I would like to know more about the camps and the Japanese people in them. Did everyone feel like Keiko's parents did with regard to their American citizenship? Why didn't people come back and retrieve their things from the hotel after the war was over? How did being put in the camps affect their lives? Things like that.

I would have liked to hear more about the cook, and her role in the whole affair. What made her so willing to be helpful?

Also, I thought Marty accepted Henry's relationship to Keiko too easily, and pushed a little more eagerly for them to meet, than I would have expected in real life.

I want to know more about the "I am Chinese" button Henry wore. I want to dig into his thoughts about it; he said he hated it, but he used it in plenty of situations to get him out of trouble.

I guess, in the end, I just wanted a lot more out of this book. I wanted more culture and less love story. I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to get worked up, or passionate about, that time in history; or about personal relationships, father-son, mother-son, father-mother, friend-friend; or cultural barriers; but, I just didn't feel like this book had that in it.

Fourth of July Wreath Craft for Kids

Ivan's 4th of July wreath on the front door.

We're adding a little 4th of July fun into our school days this week. My kids are so excited for "Firework Day" as they call it, that they can hardly stand it. Today we read two books by Patricia A. Pingry. The Story of America's Birthday and The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner.

I like these little books by Patricia Pingry. She has about a hundred of them, one for just about every holiday, some about famous people such as George Washington and Martin Luther King, and some Bible story ones. They are simple and well illustrated, and explain the event or person in basic concepts that kids can grasp.

Then we made the easiest 4th of July wreaths. First take a paper plate and cut the middle out of it. Then cut red, white, and blue stars out of card stock or construction paper in different sizes. We did big, medium, and little stars. Then glue the stars all around on the paper plate. When those dry, tape red, white, and blue streamers to the bottom. (We didn't have white, so ours are only red and blue. Also, I thought the crepe paper was a little bit thick, so I cut in half to make skinnier streamers.) Poke a small hole in the top and thread a string through it. Tie a knot in the string to make a loop. Tape the loop onto the front door (or wherever you want to hang your wreath).

 This is Lincoln's wreath. We hung his on the door to the garage.

Apple Trees

Mine and Adelia's apple tree

We did some fun apple tree art projects the other day. I've been meaning to blog them, but haven't gotten around to it until now. I got the idea for this off of http://vividlayers.blogspot.com/ which is an art website my sister-in-law recommended to me. The lady who writes the blog teaches art for grades K-6 and has lots of cool ideas and projects for that age range.

Anyways, we did apple trees. Basically, you take a white piece of card stock and use crayons to make a tree trunk and grass. You want to do them fairly waxy if you can. Then, using blue water color, paint the sky (it's ok if the kids go over the trunk and grass with blue, that's why you do it waxy with crayon, so it will still stand out). Let that dry. Then, using poster paint and a small piece of sponge, sponge in the green tree leaves. Once that dries, use red poster paint and your thumbs to make the apples.

Here is Ivan's apple tree. I helped him with the trunk, but he did the rest on his own.

This is Lincoln's apple tree. He did the whole thing by himself. He also wanted to add roots to his.

Seven Peaks With Aaron

Aaron finally got to come to Seven Peaks with us. It was kind of random. It was Saturday afternoon, about 4:30pm. We were all hot. Sporadically we decided to go to Seven Peaks. It's nice to know we still have some spontaneity left. :)

The kids had a great time, and were much braver about sliding down slides and going in the waves while Daddy was there.

And as for me, I kinda like Aaron. I wish he could go with us all the time.

Adelia's Sleeping Habits

The child has a bed...you wouldn't know it, based upon where she chooses to crash when she finally goes to sleep...but she does have a bed.

This is not a one-time occurrence either. Every night before Aaron and I go to bed, we open the door to check on Adelia. 9 times out of 10 she is sound asleep on the floor. We move her to her bed, and carry on with our lives.

The picture above was taken at nap time today. She is completely sacked out. She did not even stir when I picked her up and put her in bed. And yet, somehow, she manages to sleep, not only on the floor, but with her feet up in the air against the closet doors. I am baffled.