Happy 4th!
July 5, 2009
- Lily ate more than any of us at the July 4th evening picnic,
- Elsie told Abby that Elsie was the beautifullest because of her white dress,
- Timmy got to play some games of checkers,
- Abby made up a song on the piano,
- Kate swam across our local pool without a single breath,
- Gina repaired our screen door, and
- I learned a bit about momentum exchange in slow light.
I don’t know how Elsie kept her mouth from going dry
June 28, 2009
- Lily dipped both hands in the barbecue drain pot, leaving them covered in black, tar-like grease that marked everything and person she touched and took a good deal of soap to wash off,
- Elsie ate a large bowl strawberry shredded wheat without the help of milk,
- Timmy asked if he could learn to play piano even though he's still learning to read and worked on learning the names of the 7 notes and the names of his fingers,
- Abby finished "The Magician's Nephew" and "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and started reading "The Horse and His Boy,"
- Kate had a 4-hour achievement day party,
- Gina, managed to recreate an amazing soup that we had at Souper Salad (adobe chicken), and
- I received the first two submissions to There and Then Magazine.
Fun in the rain
June 21, 2009
- Lily has begun removing her pants and diaper and leaving little puddles,
- Elsie got covered with mud today while making many "chocolate" goodies outside,
- Timmy was the first to change into his swimming suit and go play in the huge puddles left by the rain,
- Abby played us a long piano song that she wrote,
- Kate made mini-tacos out of tortilla chips for lunch for Father's day,
- Gina started the fourth Fable Haven book, and
- I wrote the last two chapters of the first draft of my first novel.
You’ve got to watch out for those two . . .
June 14, 2009
- Lily has indulged her toothpaste obsession several times this week, most recently covering her hands and face in the sticky minty stuff,
- Elsie said "lets go tell on ourselves," and
- Timmy said "no, lets just go tell them." Then they came to us and Timmy said "Lily got hurt,"
- Abby memorized a new piano song,
- Kate had a blast at a three hour Activity Day party and still talks about it from time to time,
- Gina had a great time with Katie Giras in Albuqueque, and
- I frightened Gina by looking to see how much it would be to buy all the seasons of "Star Trek, the Next Generation." (To her relief it is way too expensive–note: this is not a gift hint! There are a lot of things I would way rather have for $290!)
Happy Birthday, Timmy!
June 7, 2009
- Lily has been taking medicine for her ear infection and keeps worrying that Gina will put the medicine in her ears,
- Elsie wants to have 5, 6, or a trillion kids,
- Timmy had a great birthday and went upstairs to bed singing to himself "I'm six! I'm six!"
- While we were all making small model houses Abby went and made a huge gorgeous model home,
- Kate got a blazing fire going by gathering a huge amount of dry pine needles and branches,
- Gina made great Dutch oven rolls and a nice set of tin foil dinners, and
- I was relieved to find out that both Gina and Abby love the hair cuts I gave them.
Here comes summer
May 31, 2009
- Lily climbed up into the cupboard and ate the butter,
- Elsie got in trouble for throwing mud at the side of the house,
- Timmy kept asking "can we move here?" while we were up in the National Forest for Fathers and Sons,
- Abby read the rest of "Alice in Wonderland" to the kids when I got tired and fell asleep (not the real book but a longish Disney picture book),
- Kate turned purple from the cold at her swimming party and her teacher had her get out of the water,
- Gina planted 9 peppers, 12 tomato plants, cantaloupe, pumpkin and cucumber and set up automatic watering for them, and
- I made my annual compost-from-the-dump run with the help of a good friend, Matt.
Friends for the weekend!
May 24, 2009
- Lily fell asleep on the way home from church and stayed asleep when I put her in her crib,
- Elsie shared secrets with her best friends Julia and Grace all through primary,
- Timmy played soccer in the rain,
- Abby picked up toys, cleaned off the floor, swept, and helped us get ready for guests,
- Kate cried when her last soccer game was canceled because of the rain,
- Gina spent many hours with the kids at school, watching and participating in various end-of-the-year events, and
- I coached our soccer team for the last time.
- Brigham slept beautifully while we went in and out of the storage room to get various products,
- Elijah entertained my CTR 5s and made quick friends,
- Emma heard Elsie crying about a lost bracelet and decided to make her a new one,
- Ammon read several books in the first 48 hours here,
- Camille told us some of the worst date stories we have ever heard, and
- Alan is about to show us all how Boggle is really played.
Only two weeks of school left.
May 17, 2009
- Lily ate a whole slice of pizza and many slices of watermelon in one sitting (yes, we had to clean her shirt afterward),
- Elsie started lying to her mother (I think this is actually developmental progress and that she'll stop later),
- Timmy started an insect club at school and they have adopted an anthill which they care for by giving bits of food and protecting it with nice portions of trash,
- When the 1st graders started ruining the work that Timmy and his friends did on the ant hill, Abby gathered together a large posse of girls and they chased off the first graders (we know several of these girls from soccer–they aren't the kind an intelligent 1st grader would have wanted to mess with),
- Kate has been working her own way through her piano books,
- Gina worked through our 72 hour kits to restock on the parts that are out of date, and
- I struggled to sleep a few nights because it was just too hot.
Wolfram Alpha Demo
May 13, 2009
Take a second to watch this demo if you like to have powerful access to information.
It may be the most amazing (and slightly scary?) thing I've seen.
Gina’s birthday is on Mothers Day this year
May 10, 2009
- Lily got a small cut on her head that bled so much that the other kids panicked to see blood running down her head and off of her chin,
- Elsie brought home a huge bag of presents for Mother's and Father's Day that she kept very secret in her shirt drawer,
- Timmy played in his first soccer game against another team and scored a goal,
- Abby was in charge of making Gina fruit soup,
- Kate led the effort to make Gina granola,
- Gina planted red current, black current, and mint in our front yard, and
- I had a great time helping the kids prepare for Mother's Day and Gina's birthday.
