D is for Duck

In my original plans for the year, I had us doing D is for dinosaur. But when it came down to it, I decided that we do a lot with dinosaurs all the time. And I shook things up, and did D is for duck. The book we used was The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack. It's an oldie, but a goodie.

As usual, our first activity was our duck letter craft. I liked this one, because we also got to talk a little bit about shapes, since the feet are made of stars and the beak is a heart.

On the second day we did a finger play to a different book called Five Little Ducks. I found the cutest home made finger puppets on Pinterest and made them, using the fingers of yellow cleaning gloves for the bodies and gluing wiggly eyes on them and pieces of craft foam for the beaks. The kids LOVED the puppets, and I ended up making several sets so we could all recite the story at the same time.

Our third activity was a hand print art craft. Basically, you cut a round head and body out of construction paper (if we ever do this again, I'll make them a little bigger than I did this time), and glue it to another piece of paper. Then you use orange hand prints for the feet, and yellow hand prints for the wings. We had some extra wiggly eyes and used those, but you could also draw them in. We used construction paper for the beaks. And drew reeds and a pond in the background with crayons. They turned out super cute. I love hand print art!

On the fourth day, I did something I've never done before...I made a sensory bin. Usually I think sensory bins are more work than they're worth, but this one didn't seem too hard, and turned out to be the favorite activity of the week. We have 26 alphabet ducks, each has a different letter on it and is dressed up like something that starts with that letter, for example the A duck is dressed like an astronaut. I put those into a plastic bin full of water. Then for texture, I added some Orbeez. Orbeez are cool. They start out as tiny little beads, and as they sit in the water they absorb it, and grow to 200 times their size, to about the size of a marble. Then you can play with them and bounce them like bouncy balls. It's fun. While we waited for our Orbeez to grow, we played a little math game. I wrote a number 0-10 on the bottom of each duck. Ivan had to pull out two ducks and tell me which number was bigger. Lincoln had to pull out two ducks and add the numbers together.

For our last activity we made duck shaped sugar cookies and decorated them. We took some to the neighbors, who, I'm sure, thought it was strange to be receiving cookies shaped like ducks, but oh well.

We were going to try and squeeze in a trip to a real duck pond to feed some ducks, but we had a couple of other, unrelated field trips and activities this week, and it just didn't happen. Next time. Linked up with:

Last Soccer Game

Saturday Lincoln played his last soccer game of the season. It's been a fun little team for him to be on, since we knew almost everyone on the team before the season started. I've enjoyed watching how much Linc has improved since last year. And he, of course, is just perfectly thrilled to have a medal. :)

The Big Red Barn 2012

This afternoon we made our annual trip to The Big Red Barn in Santaquinn with a group of friends from our old neighborhood. I look forward to this field trip every year. It's beautiful down there, and it's nice to be out in the wide open country.

We always get to start out with a wagon ride down to the apple orchard or pumpkin patch, depending on what the group has planned for the year. This year I think the plan was to do the apple orchard, but because apples came on so early this year, we missed them, and our driver told us we would be going to the pumpkin patch instead. Either is really fine with me, since either option still gives you the opportunity to play on the fun stuff. This year they have added some potato sack slides and a sand box; the kids were in Heaven.

They also have a wooden crate maze, but I couldn't distract my kids' attention from the slides long enough to get them to go through it. I was able to pull them away long enough for a group shot by the farm truck though.

Whose child is that throwing straw, anyways? Oh. Mine.

And "the cuteness" with her beautiful baby blues clearly visible for all to see. :) I have cute kids.

No Longer an Orphan

Have you seen my child out in public? Because mostly she looks like an orphan. Not because of my lack of trying, really! I do her hair every single day. And what does she do the millisecond I'm finished with it? She rips it out. And then she wanders around the rest of the day with her hair hanging raggedly in her eye balls; because, let's be honest, I have a few more things to do in my day than redo the two year old's hair 400 times.

Gramma Tam to the rescue! She came down to play with us today, and I begged her to please give the child a hair cut. She did. And it's adorable. Now she can see out, and we can all see her beautiful blue eyes again. Everyone is happy.

(Adelia came up to the computer while I was typing this and saw this picture above and said, "Who's that cute girl?" And I said, "Adelia Mae Swan." And she said, "No, that's a cuteness."

People Say This to Me All the Time:

And from now on, I'll just answer by directing them to this article. I thought it as well written and true.

Homeschooling-A Practice in Flexibility

By Megan

 The most frequent response I hear when people find out we homeschool is: "Oh I could never do that. I don't have the patience for it."  I have often been baffled by this sentiment.  I wasn't aware that patience was a requirement of homeschooling.  Looking back, I realize that the patience factor didn't really play into my decision because I made the decision when my oldest was my only and was only two.  Back then I had tons of patience.  If I had all three of my children and was debating homeschooling, I suppose I would be worried about my patience.

In general, the patience thing hasn't been much of an issue for me yet *knock on wood*  Patient has never been a word that would accurately describe me, but I seem to have enough to make it through each week without pulling my hair out.  Barely.  But to me, dealing with multiple toddlers requires a thousand times more patience than trying to get a 1st grader through his lessons.  School doesn't require much patience (yet), it's fun, it's exciting, it's quality time together.  But dealing with toddler messes, tantrums, and wall art is not what I consider fun.

The sneaky trait that I didn't realize I would need is flexibility.  When reading homeschool books or blogs, I'd read about these glorious days of learning and fun and adventure.  Then I started hearing rumors that not all days would be like that. *That* was concerning to me.  I even spent some time floating in the river denial, thinking that I could be the exception and that I could make each day perfect.

I'm glad I've had the opportunity to test the waters these past three years.  They have definitely taught me to be more flexible.  It's hard to plan a school year when each day is so different based on the length of the toddler's nap, how much sleep you got the night before, the 3 year old's willingness to not be destructive, the ebb and flow of a 6 year old's mental capacity.  What I long for is consistency and I'm pretty sure I won't be getting it any time soon.  That's ok, I'm learning and growing in my ability to go with the flow.

It took me a long time to find the schedule and organization system that is working for us now.  There were so many tweaks along the way that my system doesn't really resemble what it started out as.  I'm sure the future holds many, many more adjustments as the children grow and their needs change.

Right now we're in the midst of adjusting to my daughter moving from two naps to one.  Sometimes the second nap happens, sometimes it happens at 530pm, sometimes she's quiet for half an hour before she starts crying.  Knowing how much time we have for school is virtually impossible.  We are also in the midst of a radical change in my husband's work schedule.  It is somewhat frustrating, but I know it's only a short season before we find our new normal.  I'm sure *that* season will be short before we are interrupted again.

I would like to leave with these words from Morgan Freeman's character in Evan Almighty, "Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

I think about the sentiment behind this quote often.  I don't homeschool because I have super powers of patience or flexibility.  But homeschooling does give me ample opportunity to practice.  As we all know, practice comes with many failures and many mistakes before you get better.  My hope in this journey is that, in the long run, I am able to move beyond these failings and have come out a better person.

Provo Canyon

On Saturday Aaron's Aunt Karen threw a last minute, family reunion up in the canyon for everyone on that side of the family who lives close enough to come with only a couple days notice. It was absolutely beautiful up there. We enjoyed the fall colors, some wonderful food, and an exciting game of volleyball.

I thought we'd try to get a couple family pictures while we were up there, but my camera just doesn't have what it takes, and my children were way more interested in throwing rocks into the stream than they were in posing for pictures. Cute little stinkers anyways...

I did at least get one great shot to use for our new blog background. :) So I'll call the photo shoot a success.

This Is Why I Love Marching Band

Just think about how much FUN this show would have been to put on. Love it!

Letter C is for Caterpillar

I'm a little behind getting my post up about our letter C week. We did C is for caterpillar and based our unit off of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a story my kids adore.

First we made caterpillars into the shape of C's for our letter craft activity. I printed black C's onto the green card stock so the kids would have a pattern to follow when gluing their circles down. Some of them chose to have the caterpillar head start at the top of the C and some chose to start at the bottom. Both ways turned out really cute. Even Adelia managed to get hers mostly in a C shape.

Second, we played complete the caterpillar pattern. Aaron and I (but mostly Aaron while I directed) made caterpillar pattern cards on the computer, and a pile of different colored caterpillar pieces to complete the patterns with. I printed, cut, and laminated the cards and the pieces to make them last longer. The idea is to set the card down and have Ivan use the pieces to complete the pattern. He was a pattern whiz! I couldn't believe it. Lincoln struggled with patterning for a really long time, so for Ivan I took it very slow and started with mostly easy patterns. He went through them just like that. And I had to invent more difficult patterns for him right on the spot using the extra caterpillar pieces. We had a good time with it.

On the third day we did the life cycle of a caterpillar using pasta. I had the kids flip through The Very Hungry Caterpillar and determine the stages and the order of the caterpillar's life. Then we took a paper plate and divided it into 4 sections and labeled them 1-4. In the first section we glued a few pieces of Acini Di Pepe pasta onto a paper leaf for eggs. In the second section we glued a Spiral pasta onto a real leaf (the kids decided it would be more authentic to have a real leaf) for the caterpillar. In the third section we glued a Shell pasta onto a twig we drew with marker for the cocoon. And in the fourth section we glued a Bowtie pasta for the butterfly and added some antennae with marker. I thought they turned out really cute.

 Mom, Lincoln, Ivan, Adelia

Our fourth activity we did over the span of two days so the paint could dry. We'll call it Caterpillar Names. For the first part, we finger painted a branch and some green leaves. Then I cut some empty toilet paper tubes into a bunch of round pieces, and put a round piece into 7 or so different colors of paint. They used the tubes to stamp circles (aka caterpillar body parts) onto the branch. Then we had to let things dry. On the second part of the activity, we practices writing our names by using one body part per letter of our name. Then we added legs, antennae, and faces to our caterpillars.

For our fifth activity we got lucky and caught a real live caterpillar while we were up playing in the canyon. We brought him home, put him in a jar, and will be observing him over the next several weeks. We've had him for 2 days now, and he's already made his cocoon. It'll be fun to see what happens! Linked up with:

Utah Valley Renaissance Fair

This morning we went on a field trip with our homeschool group to the Utah Valley Renaissance Fair. We had a blast! If you live in UT County and you don't have anything to do tomorrow, I highly recommend you check it out. Kids 5 and under are free admission, and everyone else is just $4. http://utahvalleyrenaissancefaire.com/

I wish I would have taken more pictures. The first thing we got to see was a welcoming ceremony. We listened to speeches from the king and the queen. And then we got to watch a few people be knighted. It was cool. And my kids thought the full suits of armor were great.

Next we went and saw a mid-evil puppet show. We were excited to see "Mr. Dallin" (one of my kids' favorite story time people at the Provo Library) was the one in charge of the show. It didn't disappoint.  All three of my kids were on the edge of their seats, and laughing and following right along. Which is funny, because apparently mid-evil puppet shows are mostly slap-stick humor with very little dialogue.

Then we listened to a Celtic singing group and walked around the booths. We got to taste test some hard-tack bread and watch how it was made, watch a man with a lathe make legs for chairs, see some beautiful stained glass and wood carvings, and watch a man on a pottery wheel make jars and pots. We also watched some beautiful calligraphers, and walked by a stand explaining how to use all the different kinds of tools and weapons used in that time period. It was all very fascinating.

Then we went to a bird show. The picture I took is of an owl, but the lady holding him turned right as I snapped the picture. Then we watched some guys fighting with wooden broad swords for awhile. Lincoln was super disappointed that I wouldn't let him try. (There is no way he was big enough to even lift the sword, let alone try to fight with it.) So to appease him, we found someone doing balloon art for free, and all three of my kids chose swords and then practiced their skills.

We also got some glitter tattoos, watched a woman eating fire, and listened to some more music groups. Then it was time to go. On the way out, we found a pirate ship. I don't know if pirates have anything to do with the renaissance, I'll have to look it up, but my kids were happy enough to stand by the ship and have their picture taken. (Although, Lincoln did inform me that it wasn't a real pirate ship, because the anchor was painted on and the mast wasn't real wood, and the water had tires underneath it.)

**Okay, I had to look it up, apparently pirates were part of the renaissance...most specifically Sir Francis Drake. Cool.

What Comes of Late Night Thinking

I have been extremely blessed with several meaningful friendships since I moved away from home after high school. I truly believe that women need other women in their lives, and I have some truly fantastic ones in mine. 

The ladies in my homeschooling group are no exception.  I love Mom’s Night Out with my homeschool group. Once a month or so, we get together at someone’s house, without the kids, and I get to spend several hours laughing and chatting with some of the most intelligent, passionate, motivated women, I’ve ever known. I find that I don’t participate as much in the conversation because I’m trying so hard to absorb and process the words of others. They have a lot to offer, and I want to soak in as much as possible and figure out how it applies to me. Because of this, I often go home from MNO unable to sleep, but instead spend hours lying in bed thinking. I’m a late-night thinker anyway, so it isn’t so unusual for me to think instead of sleep; but, it always happens after a MNO. 

Last night, several different people in the group spoke up about some pretty difficult things they’d gone through in the past years, and how it had affected them. All the members of the group seemed to feel that, despite the obstacles, they had turned out all right. But each knew of someone, a sibling, parent, friend, cousin, neighbor, ward member, etc. who had gone through either the same trial, or a similar one, and had been completely changed for the worst. And the question came up, how then, do we teach our children to be resilient? 

Although I didn’t share with the group last night, I’ve been through some challenges just like everyone else. Most people know that my dad died of cancer when I was 17 and then my mom remarried two years later. Both of these experiences were extremely difficult for me; in fact, I’d be hard pressed to say which of the two was harder. They were so different and each affected me differently, but deeply. However, to make a long story short, I feel like overcoming these events has made me a better person. The person I am today is a person that would not be if I had not gone through some of those hard things and been able to learn from them. Yay for me, right? But I am only 1 of 4 children in my family. I have three younger brothers who experienced the exact same death and remarriage that I did, and all of us struggled. But some of them didn’t come out better for it right away, and one of them hasn’t come out better for it at all. In fact, I’d say that all 4 of us handled the trials in very different ways— for better or for worse. I don’t know.  I’ve never really talked to my brothers about it, I have no idea how they feel about it, or what it did to them, or how it changed them.  But I do know that up until the time my dad died, we were all raised the same. We were taught the same family values, watched the same examples of our parents, went to the same church, etc.  So the questions I’ve been asking myself for years are: What makes the difference? Why do some people choose one way, while others choose another? What is it that keeps people spiritually strong and moving forward and motivated to continue pursuing positive goals and progression, even after being knocked down by something, when others become defeated and bitter and distracted to stagnation by it? 

I don’t have an answer. But the question last night, “How do we teach our children to be resilient?” rang true to me. It was just a more elegantly worded compilation of all the things I’ve wondered about over the years. And so I couldn’t sleep last night because my brain wheels were spinning.

When I think about resilience, the first image that pops into my mind is a tree.  The part of the tree that’s about ground gets blown around and whipped every which way by the wind. But the important part is not what’s happening to the tree above ground, but what’s going on underneath. If the tree has strong, deep roots it will survive the storm. Even if some of the branches get broken off, with a strong root system the tree can pull through and thrive. How do we get trees with strong roots?

 How do we teach our children to be resilient? In response to that question, someone at MNO suggested that maybe making sure that our families are having consistent prayer and scripture study, even when the kids are very young, would help our kids stay on track. 

I thought about this comment all night last night and came to this personal conclusion (as in, I’m not saying you have to agree with me, or come to the same conclusion, but this is the direction my thoughts took me last night); while I think prayer and scripture study are good and most definitely have their place, I don’t think prayer and scripture study are the answer. I think that prayer and scripture study are the means to an end, but not the end itself. 

Going back to the tree analogy for just a second, maybe I can illustrate what I mean a little more clearly. What does a tree need to grow? Water and good soil. Let’s say that water is prayer, and the good soil is scripture study. So you plant your tree in good soil and you give it plenty of water. The tree will have deep, strong roots, right? Wrong. We had a large willow tree in the side yard when I was growing up. It was taller than our house. It had good soil and it got a lot of water. One night, when I was a senior in high school, we had a really crazy wind storm, and the huge tree got blown right over, ripped right out of the ground roots and all. The tree had a huge root system, but the problem was that the tree was taking all its water from the sprinklers that were watering the lawn, so the roots never went deep, they stayed barely underneath the surface of the grass. When the big storm came, those shallow roots weren’t enough to keep the tree grounded. 

What’s going to keep us grounded? I think the only thing that can is our own personal relationship with God. I think we are counseled by prophets and apostles and other church leaders to pray and read the scriptures because those are excellent ways to invite the Spirit and to help establish a relationship with our Heavenly Father—if used in the right way. But if used the wrong way, or an insincere way, then they are nothing but reading and talking. I’ve said prayers without really praying before.  I’ve sat down and read chapters of scriptures and come away thinking nothing more profound than, that was a nice story. None of those experiences has ever brought me closer to Heavenly Father, not a one. But there have also been times when I have prayed from my soul and felt comfort and guidance and love in return.  There have been times when I’ve opened my scriptures, and not the stories, but the feelings have jumped out at me from the pages and made connections with other parts of my life. And it’s those times that I know without a shred of doubt that I have a Heavenly Father who is aware of me. And it’s those times that my relationship with him and my trust in him grows stronger. And if I have enough of those experiences stashed away, then when the time comes I will be resilient. Even if I don’t understand, or I’m hurt, or confused, or angry, or feel wronged or any of the other emotions we feel in hard times; I will be able to be strong because of the trusting and loving relationship I have with my Creator. 

How do we teach our children to be resilient? I think we start by teaching them how to have a real and personal relationship with God.

And once I’d gotten that far, I was able to go to sleep. But I'm also curious, because I don't think the thoughts I had last night are the end all, last say on the matter. I think they are maybe only a small part. And so I'm asking...How do you teach your children to be resilient?

B is For Boat

The kids and I had fun with letter B this week. We mostly focused on boats, but a few other fun B activities snuck into the mix of things as well. Our story of the week was Toy Boat by Randall de Seve.  And the boys couldn't get enough of all the different boats and the faces painted on each one. I think the story is cute, but once again, the pictures are what sold me.

On Monday we made our letter craft; a lower case b as the mast of a boat. Aaron made the pattern for me on the computer, so if anyone is interested in the pdf just send me your email address, and I can pass it along. We'll hang these up next to our apple A's on the kids' closet doors.

On Tuesday we played a rousing game of boat bingo. Which unintentionally fit in really well with the Toy Boat story because of the different types of boats. The game was a fun way to work on our matching skills, even Adelia was able to play without too much help.

On Wednesday it was my turn to host the preschool co-op, and it was all about the letter B. We sang a welcome song, and the Adam's Family version of the days of the week. Then we had show and tell. This week for show and tell, I had them each bring their favorite book and tell why it was their favorite and show their favorite picture from it. Then I read them Toy Boat. Next we did the B Basket. I had put together a little basket full of things that start with letter b. The kids took turns picking items out of the basket and showing everyone. In our basket we had: A capital B fridge magnet, banana, brush, broccoli, baby, bouncy ball, boat, Buzz Lightyear, bunny, bear, block, and bow. Next we sang a couple of B songs: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (which I explained was about different parts of the body, another B word.) Then it was time for some balloon bad-mitten. I made paddles by stapling a jumbo craft stick onto a small paper plate. Then I blew up 8 or so balloons and let them have at it. When they'd gotten enough of their wiggles out, we moved on to our next activity. I had big sheets of butcher paper, and I had each kid lie down on one and I traced the outline of their bodies. Then we colored them and they got to practice writing their name next to their body.  Because my kids had had so much fun with Boat Bingo the day before, I decided we'd play it again at preschool. (I have the pdf for six bingo sheets, send your email if you want them). After bingo we had a boat snack: apple slices with peanut butter on top, with a corner of cheese slice and a tooth pick stuck into it for the sail. And lastly, while we waited for the moms to come, we blew bubbles outside on the front porch.

Thursday and Friday the kids and I kept working on their body projects from preschool on Wednesday. We colored them (the boys did their own, I helped Adelia), and cut them out and taped them on the wall in their rooms. They were so proud of them. And this project actually came at a perfect time too, because we just started Peter Pan (a junior classic version) for our family read aloud, and read the chapter where Peter loses his shadow and Wendy's mom rolls it up and sticks it in a drawer. The way the body cut-outs rolled up reminded the kids of Peter's shadow. So that was fun.

Next week is letter c, starring the very hungry caterpillar!
Linked up with:

Crossing the Rubicon

Well ladies and gentlemen, the deed is begun. The first hole has been dug (by hand I might add), and there's no turning back. May it not take the poor man a lifetime to complete our sprinkler system.

...And may we have grass!!

Soccer Season

It's soccer season around here again. Linc is doing really well this year. He pays a lot more attention to the ball, and actually tries to get in on the action. He's even scored a few times.

Here are his devoted fans who didn't want to be left out of the picture action:

A is for Apple Unit

Ivan's first day of preschool co-op

I think I mentioned that Ivan (and consequentially I) joined a preschool co-op this year with several other kids (and their moms) in our ward. Wednesday was his first day. Ever since we heard about the co-op, I have felt like this was a good idea for Ivan. I feel like he needs something that is his very own. Something that he gets to do without his brother and sister. This co-op seems like the perfect thing, I'm still involved because I teach every fifth week or so, but he gets to go have wonderful adventures with kids his own age once a week for an hour and a half. I was a little bit worried that he would be shy and timid, or that he wouldn't want to stay there by himself. But he did fantastic, and he was so excited about it. After we picked him up, as we were walking home, I said to him, "Tell me all about preschool, did you have fun?" He replied, "I had fun, but I'm not going to tell you everything about it because you weren't there." Stab my mother's heart. But throughout the rest of the day he'd tell me little bits and pieces at random times (not if I asked though), so I think I've figured out mostly how his day went. They talked about letter A, had show-and-tell, played airplane tag (this was Ivan's favorite part, he came home and taught Linc and Adelia how to play, and they played all afternoon), had a snack, got to count A's they found around the room, colored an alligator, wrote their name, sang songs, and played outside.


On purpose, I set up our home school preschool that we do throughout the rest of the week, to match up with the letter Ivan was learning about in his co-op. So we've been talking about A all week as well. I chose to do a unit on apples. The story I picked to go with our unit was Johnny Appleseed A Poem by Reeve Lindbergh. The poem is cute, and rimes, but what I really like are the pictures. They are fun, and have little animals all over the place that the kids love to look for while I'm reading.

Because I'm also home schooling Lincoln's Kindergarten, my preschool time has to be severally limited to one activity a day. So we read the book and then do an activity and call it good. I gear the activities towards Ivan, but the other two are allowed to participate if they want to, and they usually choose to.

 
The first day we made letter A apples our of cardstock. I had all the pieces cut out before hand, so all the kids had to do was glue it together. My goal this time around, is to make a picture of the letter every time we do one, and then hang them on Ivan's closet door as we go, so that he can see how his alphabet is progressing.

The second day we played a math game. Each player gets a place mat that has ten apples on it. Each apple has a number 1-10. In my hand I hold 10 apple shaped cards. The person who is it draws an apple card from me, then matches it to the number on their place mat. Once they match it correctly, they get to pick out the corresponding number of fishy crackers (or whatever treat you choose) and place them on the number card. Once all the cards run out, everyone gets to eat their crackers, and you shuffle the cards and start over. It's pretty simple, but my kids LOVED it.

On the third day we made Wassail, which is one of my most favorite parts of fall. We usually don't make it until Halloween, but this apple unit gave me a good excuse. Here's the recipe:

Wassail
6 cups cranberry juice
24 cup apple cider (not juice, cider)
6-8 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbsp whole cloves

Pour cranberry juice into large pan. Pour in cider. Add in cinnamon sticks and cloves. (You can wrap them in a cheese cloth if you want, or just scoop them our with a slotted spoon at the end.) Bring everything to a boil. Simmer for 25-30 minutes. Serve. Store in a pitcher in refrigerator and reheat when needed.

On the fourth day we did apple lacing cards, which I made by drawing an apple onto a piece of card stock, coloring it, cutting it out, laminating it, and punching wholes around the edges. I used red yarn as the string. Super easy, very entertaining, and they'll be good for sacrament meeting later.

For day five we made a paper plate apple art project by cutting off the sides of a paper plate and painting the top and bottom red, and drawing seeds in the middle. Use the sides you cut off to make the leaf and the stem, and either color or paint them green and brown. I did have my kids do the cutting on this part to help with the fine motor skills. It's not a very hard cut. Then, to throw a little science into the mix, we used my plate to label all the parts of the apple, stem, leaf, skin, flesh, core, and seeds. And briefly talked about how if you planted an apple seed, it would eventually grow into an apple tree.

I thought our preschool was pretty successful this week. Next week is letter B and we're doing boats! Also the co-op is at my house...so Ivan will be able to tell me everything about it, because I'll be there! ;)

Labor Day Weekend

We got some new next door neighbors! A flock of geese moved into the corn field right next to our house for the weekend. Apparently, our house lies directly under their migration path, so we'll be seeing a lot of them in years to come. I love this picture. How many people get to walk outside and see this next door every day? I hope they never sell the corn field and that we always get to have this beautiful view.

Labor Day weekend turned out a little differently than we expected. We had planned on heading down to St. George to be there for Aaron's sister Stacey's twins' baby blessings. But some of Stacey's kids got strep throat, and some of Lisa's kids got colds, and we felt like it was just a little too risky. So we stayed home. And it turned out to be a really good thing. We got A LOT of things accomplished that we've been wanting to do all summer, but haven't bothered to say home long enough to do.

Aaron installed a peep hole in our front door! Yay! I'm sorry, but I'm one of those people that if I don't know who it is at the door, I won't open it. So a peep hole will be very handy. He also installed a more secure lock on our sliding glass door, and a slide lock on our front and garage door to keep the kids in, and to prevent them from opening the door for anyone when I'm in the shower or putting another child down for a nap. (We have a lot of random people ringing our doorbell, and a lot of construction workers in the area at the moment, can you tell I'm a little paranoid?) And we got window locks, so the kids can't open the windows and fall out of them. So I am feeling very safe and secure this weekend. All we have left to get is the alarm system and the mean dog. :)

We also bought Adelia a twin sized mattress. That's been on our list of things to do forever. Since we moved her into her big bed ages ago, she's been sleeping in the big girl bed, but still with only the crib mattress. I feel much better about her sleeping arrangement now. Adelia has learned to open doors this last week, which is swell, except for at nap time. So we got one of those plastic, child-proof doorknob things. It made her super mad. Today she figured out how to pop it off. Smart little stinker. She also has a new habit of stripping herself down completely naked during the time when she is supposed to be sleeping, and then yelling at the top of her lungs, "I took my diaper off, I peed on my bed!" But, on a more positive note, she told Aaron she needed to poop in the potty tonight, and she did it. Maybe we should be concentrating our efforts on potty-training her instead of Ivan...he seems to be a lost cause at the moment as far as the bathroom is concerned.

While I was taking a little break on Saturday, Adelia decided to make up for being a nap-time terror, and offered to style my hair for me. "Hold still Mommy. I almost done." Gee, I wonder where she's heard that before. :) (Aaron came in and helped her put the pony-tail in, and then took the picture.)

Sunday after dinner, we decided to take a little drive up Payson Canyon. It's beautiful up there at any time of year. We got out at Payson Canyon Park and walked around for a little bit. Here are some pictures I took.

Cheesers: Ivan, Lincoln, and Aaron

Adelia wanted to get up in the tree like the boys so badly, but she was so nervous the whole time, and when I got her down she said, "That scary Mommy."

What are we pointing at?

Beautiful girl

Lincoln was very determined to climb a tree.

Ivan was mostly content to destroy spider webs with a stick.

Aaron and I were happy to sit back and watch the kids run around. This picture is courtesy of Lincoln, hence the blur.

"Daddy, I want a turn. I take a picture!"

Today was Monday. Aaron was home. We didn't really have a whole lot planned, so we did school. It was really nice to have Aaron's help with school. It took us just as long as normal, but the kids did better work and got more individualized attention. Ivan did the best handwriting page I've ever seen him do. For our preschool activity we made letter A apples, and read Johnny Appleseed. But I'll wait until the end of the week and do a big post on all the apple stuff at once. 

Coincidentally, we got to go pick apples today as well. Not part of our preschool plan, but it worked out nicely with the schedule. Our friends the Armstrongs from our Provo ward, have several large apple trees in their backyard that they don't use all the apples off of, so they let us and our other friends the Parks come and pick apples. Suzy texted me Saturday to say they were ready, and so today we loaded up the ladder and our red wagon, and went and picked bags and bags and bags of apples. I don't know what I've gotten myself into! But it was fun to talk to Suzy and her family. We've missed them since we left Provo. We still see them frequently, just not as often as we used to. I meant to take a picture of the apple pickin' but I got too caught up in chatting and forgot. :) But, it looks like we'll be putting up apple sauce during our apple themed week. How appropriate, eh?