My kids are Geeks--- and we LOVE it.

One of the things I love about homeschooling is that it is cool to be smart and it's okay to be a little geeky!  In the past week, I've watched my kids dancing and jamming to the Articles of Faith, laughing hysterically over an Oxygen video, playing math games for hours (drilling facts is much more fun when it's animated), and having a blast building a solar system. We've started putting together a blog with just the fun school stuff that they want to show off. You can link to it here.

Tonight Ryan decided that he wanted to learn about logrithams. So he did. Yeah, Khan Academy because I didn't have a clue! After he watched a couple videos, his response was, "Oh, these are easy. It's just exponents in reverse."   Okay, glad you think so. :)

The other day he was holding Cumorah and she was crying and I told him just to dance with her. His response was "I don't dance. I don't want to dance with a girl." I responded, "Someday dancing with girls will be cool." His response, "I'd rather stay home and do algebra."

So now, I'm going to do a bit of mom bragging, so feel free to skip this part. :)

Ryan is 11 and is taking Algebra for high school credit. He loves it and is flying through the course. He will probably finish the entire years worth by Christmas. (There is an online component that makes sure he has mastered every concept and he's finished 75% already.)  The virtual charter school just tested him and Jeanisha. Most of his scores were in the gifted range and math was off the charts. His "weak" areas were spelling and editing, but on his writing, when spelling didn't count against him, he scored grade level 13.  Spell check is his friend! We will be having him do "single subject acceleration" in most subjects to keep him challenged and engaged, but not graduating too early. The charter school will pay for college level classes when he reaches that point.

Jeanisha also tested really well scoring over a year ahead on almost everything and at 4th grade level for math. Over 130 is considered gifted and she scored 153 on the math part! She is convinced she will catch her older brothers! She is 6 and doing multiplication and division in her head. Her strongest area is story problems!

I love that each of the kids can move at their own pace and not have to waste time reviewing over and over. I also love the ton of free online resources that can pick up when they pass me by. :) I also love that when they do struggle with something, we can keep working until they "get" it,

ER Weekend

Our weekend started early with Stephen coming home from work sick on Wed. night. He was coughing and said his head was going to explode. Thursday he slept the day away. By early afternoon he had moved downstairs to sleep on the couch and was completely oblivious to 5 kids running and playing right around him. I first realized something was wrong when he rolled off the couch to the floor and didn't even wake up. He was completely checked out and couldn't stay awake. He'd slept for about 17 hours straight at this point. I decided to take him into quick care. We barely made it into the car-- I thought he was going to pass out walking to the car. After that, I was able to keep him in a wheelchair. Quickcare looked at him and did some blood tests and sent us over to the ER. They gave him an IV and ran more tests and sent us home for him to sleep more and said to come in Sat if he wasn't doing better. He has a high bilirubin level, which means his body is breaking down red blood cells. He also has a high white blood cell count, so there is probably some sort of infection as well. Luckily he is not in pain and was promised in a blessing that he will get well, we just don't know how long that will take. He has continued to sleep about 18 hours a day.

Saturday morning I woke up in major pain, and he ended up taking me to the ER with kidney stones. Kidney stones are the only time I've ever thrown up because of the pain. It feels like hard labor, only with labor you get a break between contractions and end up with something positive at the end that you can focus on. :) I'd take childbirth any day! I am feeling much better with the pain medicine, but just have to wait for them to pass. My mom came up and took the 4 younger boys back down to her house, so Stephen and I have just been able to sleep the day away. Hopefully this passes soon and we can figure out what is wrong with him and get back into life.

Oh, and both times at the ER, we had the same nurse. She was nice, but I really don't want to be on a first name basis with an ER nurse. What are the odds?

Latter-day Homeschooling Blog

I love reading about other people's homeschools and gleaning ideas from them and enjoy reading the blog posts on Latter-day Homeschooling. If you've considered homeschooling and wonder if you could do it, or if you think we're all crazy, but want to get a glimpse into why we do it, this is a great site.
http://www.latter-dayhomeschooling.com/ (there is also a link on the sidebar)

Back to School Prep

Homeschooling is an adventure. There are days that I love it (most of the time) and days I want to pull my hair out.

For example, one day this summer I was working with Tyler on order of operations with ( ). The problem was 8 + (4-2)= I asked him to read me the problem. Tyler: "Eight plus parentheses four LINE two parentheses." LINE????? Me: "Try again." Tyler: "Eight plus parentheses four DASH two parentheses." Me: "No Tyler, that means subtract." Tyler:"Oh, I forgot."

See what I mean???? So then Stephen decided to help him. The problem was 1/4 = ____ out of ____. Stephen:"Read what it says." Tyler: "One over four squiggly line thingy." SQUIGGLY LINE THINGY?????? He is 9, how many times has he seen an equal sign???? He was then sent outside to get some fresh air and we tackled it the next day. His response then? Oh, this is easy, I know how to do this. And he did it correctly with no problems. So it did sink in somewhere along the line.

We did a relaxed version of school over the summer. Basically reading, math, and a little writing. On days it was nice outside, the kids knew that if they played outside nicely and were having fun, I would probably "forget" to have them come finish school. But if they started complaining, fighting, or being bored, I would find them something to do. :)

Now as fall is getting close, I've been figuring out the schedule and curriculum for the coming year and reorganizing all their boxes. We will continue using IDEA, the virtual charter school. It involves quite a bit of hoop jumping for me, but gives the kids official school records, money for extra curricular activities, and pays for a good bit of our curriculum. For those who care, here is what we will be using. :)

Ryan will be 6th grade, doing 7th grade work for most subjects and Algebra 1 for high school credit. He will use Life of Fred Beginning Algebra and then move into Advanced Algebra around Christmas. He loves these books and has worked halfway through Beginning Algebra this summer. For science, he is doing Apologia General Science, and for Social Studies he is doing Western Hemisphere. For Language Arts we use a variety of stuff because he is very strong at reading and comprehension, but hates writing and spelling. This year he will use My Access, G.U.M., and 4 square writing along with writing book reports and country reports for geography. I'm still not sure what I will use for his spelling. I like All About Spelling, but it's a bit too mom-intensive for my life right now. I'm trying to figure out a way that the boys can do it with each other. If not, I'll go the workbook route.

Tyler is 4th grade and will be using Singapore math, ALEKS, and possibly Critical Thinking Math. (I've ordered the Life of Fred Elementary series and if those click for him like they did for Ryan, we'll go that route. If he needs more practice, I'll add the Critical Thinking Math.) For science, he'll use DK books and other living books and science kits to study by topic, plus Critical Thinking Science Detective. For social studies he will do Idaho History this year. For Language Arts, he will use GUM, My Access, 4 square writing, Reading Detective, and Handwriting without Tears. He will also be reading stories to the younger kids everyday.

Eli is 2nd grade and Jeanisha is 1st, but the school is working to skip her to 2nd, so they will do many of the same things. They both will do Singapore Math and the new Life of Fred Elementary books or possibly Critical Thinking Math. Science and history will be living books. I'm going to try Story of the World with them and see if they are ready for it. Both of them will finish Explode the Code and Beyond the Code this year and use Reading Eggs online program. For readers I like the Pathway Readers, but we don't use the workbooks that go with them. They'll also do Handwriting without Tears.

It's always a lot of work to put together the new school year, but it's also fun as the new books start coming. It's rewarding to see how far the kids have come, which makes up for the days I wonder if anything is sinking in.

Cumorah is here!!!

She actually arrived over a week ago, on Aug 1st at 10:12 pm, but I just didn't get the blog updated. She weighed 7 lbs exactly and was 20 inches long. She is a beautiful, sweet baby and very much loved! I'm amazed at how well she sleeps through the noise and busyness and how well she tolerates the kisses and loves. She had her days and nights mixed up at first, but seems to have it figured out now. The last 2 nights she only woke up twice.

I'd been having contractions since about 33 weeks and taking it really easy, so once we passed the magic 38 week mark, I was ready to be active again. It just happened that Ryan is getting close to having a birthday and to finish his Webelos badge for Cub Scouts, he needed a 3 mile hike. So on Sunday, the 31st, I told Stephen we were going to take the family "hiking" along the Green Belt for 3 miles. Sure enough, as long as I was walking good, I would have contractions. They were pretty consistent, but not super hard. We went to bed that night and I kept having them occasionally until about 2 am. The next morning once I got moving again they started right back up and got more consistent and harder as the day went on. We went into the hospital about 2:30 pm and when they would have me lay on the bed, nothing would happen, but if I was walking they were consistent. The nurse said she thought the dr. on call would send us home since I had an appt the next day with my own dr, but that I should come prepared to be sent right over to the hospital from that appt. As she walked out of the room, contractions started regular just laying there, so the dr. on call kept us there and came in and broke my water.

When I was able to keep walking around the contractions got harder and stronger, when I would lay down they would ease up. When I got the epidural her heart rate started dropping, so they thought for a minute that I would need a cesearean, but then they checked and she was almost here. Once I relaxed it was only about 30 minutes to go from a 5 to "here she comes, wait for the dr." Her delivery was quick and easy and she was born wanting to eat! We stayed in the hospital overnight and came home Tues afternoon. Stephen took the rest of that week off of work, (and was very ready to go back when Monday rolled around. Now life at home is getting back into the regular routine but with everyone jumping at her slightest whimper. One little cry and all the kids run over to help. They also come in from playing often to hold her, even if it only lasts for a few minutes at a time (except Jeanisha who will hold her for hours).

Easy Summer Dessert

This is my "fake" key lime pie recipe. I double it, put it in a 9 x 13 pan and put it in the freezer. It is SO yummy and so easy!

Easy Key Lime Pie

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (Or make from food storage with 3/4 cup powdered milk, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup hot tap water blended in blender)

1/2 cup key lime or lime juice (1/2 of one of those plastic limes of lime juice)
1/2 pkg. (small) lime jello
1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (6 oz) graham cracker pie crust (or just layer the pan with graham crackers)

Beat condensed milk and lime juice and jello in bowl or blender until smooth and thickened. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon into pie crust. Cover and refrigerate an hour or until set or freeze. Wonderful frozen or slightly thawed.

Lincoln with Bubble Wrap

This video makes me laugh. It's a little dark, but hopefully you can see it. Why do we buy toys? The bubblewrap is just as fun.

Book of Mormon Camp

Throughout the school year, we do a homeschool co-op with about 20 other families (80 kids or so) on Friday. The kids love it and have made some awesome friends over the past 4 years. But then summer comes and we see these friends much less often, so this year I decided to host a Book of Mormon Camp with a few of these families. We have 5 families and a total of about 30 kids ranging from 15 down to 2. We split the Book of Mormon into 10 sections and each mom is coming up with the activities for 2 sections and we (the moms) get to just visit the rest of the time. We've been doing 2 sections each Thursday and have 2 weeks left to go.

The first week, Krista set up a tent at the far back of the yard and as we talked about Nephi's journey, the kids trooped out there carrying blankets, bags of wheat, water bottles, and other provisions. It was cooking hot that day, which was perfect for a desert trek, but also led perfectly into murmuring from some of the kids. :) We journeyed back to the house and she had the kids act out getting the plates, then we went back to the tent. When she said we were going back for the girls, several of the 8-11 year old boys cheered. They were really cheering because they got to go back into the cooler house for a bit, but it was pretty funny since this same group covers their eyes for a kiss on a movie. (And I'm happy for them to stay at that stage for a good while longer.)

After all the trips out to the tent and in the heat, the kids came back in for my part. I started with Nephi and the broken bow. We made "wooden" bows out of pretzel rods and peel apart licorice and arrows from mini pretzels and marshmallows. Then they headed back outside to the burn pile of sticks with a couple rolls of duct tape to make tools. It was fun to see what they came up with using sticks, rocks, and duct tape. We had some pretty dangerous looking tools, including several pickaxes that were even sharpened by a pocket knife one of the boys had with him. Next we came in and made juice boxes into boats and floated them across the wading pool "ocean" while getting plenty wet in the process.

Week 2 started with Jacob and Melania did an awesome job teaching the parable of the olive tree using celery as the good olive tree and asparagus for the branches of the wild tree. The kids enjoyed cutting off the bad leaves to be burned and sticking in the asparagus with toothpicks. She had the celery standing in a bowl of sour cream and when it was time to "dung around" and fertilize the tree, she had the kids sprinkle in and stir in ranch powder to make dip. Then they got to eat it all. They also made prayer rocks for Enos.

Next up was Mosiah, and Tami used the playhouse in the backyard as King Benjamen's tower and later the kids built towers. The younger ones used playdough and popsicle sticks and the older ones used a fort kit made out of PVC pipe. It was probably over 30 feet tall.

Last week, we did Alma. Patty first had the kids become missionaries and put on missionary nametags as they talked about Alma the Younger. Then she let the kids become Lamanites or Nephites and they had a tug of war, then the Lamanites "marked" themselves with a red L painted on their foreheads. Next they became Anti-Nephi-Lehi's and colored swords which they then took out and buried in the backyard. It was kind of funny to watch how difficult it was for the kids to give up their weapons. Even though it was just a piece of paper that they had colored, some of them really didn't want to bury them and a few even snuck back later to try to dig them up again to find theirs. All in all, it led to some great teaching moments and was lots of fun.

Melania took the kids outside and they made a title of liberty and talked more about the stripling warriors and the battles between the Lamanites and Nephites. I don't really know much about her activities because I was inside visiting with the other moms, but I know the kids thought it was fun and loved the candy she gave out when they could answer questions.

Next week we will do Helaman and 3rd/4th Nephi, the the last week I get to teach Ether and Krista will do Moroni. So if you have any great ideas for Ether, please send them my way. So far, I am planning to build towers with spaghetti and marshmallows for the tower of Babel. And then to paint rocks with glow in the dark paint for in the boats. Beyond that, I'm still piecing it together, so I need a couple more activities.

It has been a great experience for the kids and I hope it will help them remember these stories even better. Plus they get a full day of friends and I get time to visit and just hang out. Krista has been coming over in the morning and her son has been teaching Bubble Science to the kids while we hang out. They have had some pretty impressive bubble creations! Then we go to lunch in the park for an hour and come back for the 2 hours of Book of Mormon camp. Usually after that, friends stay and play for another hour or so and then it's time to clean up for dad to come home. The kids have been great about helping get and keep the house ready for all their friends to come over and cleaning up again afterward.

Overheard

I was going downstairs and overheard Ryan and Tyler telling Eli that he should be so excited that the baby was going to be coming soon. Then one of them said, "And hopefully mom can stay in the hospital a long time." (What????)
Then, "Yeah, one time Jeanisha was so lucky, she got to stay there for a whole week." (That's lucky????)
Then: "The hospital has lots and lots of TV channels and when you go visit someone there, you can watch tons of different shows." "Yeah, it's awesome."
Okay, now it makes sense, it's not the new little sister they want to go see at the hospital, it's cable TV. And of course, I would want to stay there as long as possible with all those cool shows to watch. :) Sometimes their thought process just makes me laugh.

Where babies come from

Adam (4) was sitting with me tonight when Cumorah started moving a bunch and he watched my stomach bouncing around. Then he said, "I know how the baby got in your tummy."
Me: "Really, how?"
Adam: "It came down the chimney and then you swallowed it."
Me: "How did it get to the chimney?"
Adam: "Jesus or Heavenly Father brought it to the chimney and dropped it down."
Me: "How do you know?"
Adam: "I remember from when I was a baby."

So now you know. That's where a baby comes from.

PS As far as our resident baby ducks go, we've lost 2, so we are down to 7, but they are a ton of fun to watch. As long as Bella (d0g) and Lucy (cat) stay away, the mama duck will let me get right up close to the babies (especially if I bring out some bread).

Ups and Downs

In the past bit, we've had a bit of a roller coaster. Melynda and Eli were sealed to our family in the temple on May 15. That was a wonderful experience and it was neat to see all the kids dressed in white.

Then on May 28th Melynda turned 18, and on June 1st, she ran away. It has been a heart-breaking, frustrating couple of weeks. We know that she is now living with a friend in Twin and looking for a job. She took nothing with her and left very impulsively.

The kids are adjusting pretty well. And for the most part, Stephen and I are too. I have started having contractions easily and have to stop and sit or lay down frequently during the day. I'm only 32 weeks along, so this baby needs to wait a while longer.

Outside of the big stuff, we are enjoying regular summer activities. The kids are super excited today because we have 9 new baby ducks in our yard. We found the mother duck and the nest by accident around May 23rd when a basketball bounced over into the weeds by the fence. At the time, we didn't think the kids and dog and cat would leave her alone long enough to hatch the eggs. She had to sit on them for 30 days, which was a long time to not be bothered by the kids or their friends. I'm not sure when they hatched, but they are pretty tiny and today is the first day she's been away from the nest at all. (She's been "checked on" numerous times every day since she was discovered.) We fed her some bread and the kids filled up the wading pool and put it out on the basketball court so they will have water. From reading online, it looks like they may stick around for about 8 weeks until the babies can fly. It should be fun watching them grow!

No internet and Funny kids and school update

We went over 2 weeks without internet as we tried to find someone who could get a signal with all of the trees that surround our house. We ended up with DSL and wires. It was amazing in some ways how peaceful and how inconvenient it was. When my only option for checking email was an unsecured connection while the kids did track, and I had no printer, people just had to wait. There were lots of things that got put on hold, some of which probably won't make it back off hold. :) It was interesting how often at first, I would think, oh, I'll just go check that, look up that recipe, whatever, and not be able to. But usually I could find a similar recipe in a cookbook or find the number in the phone books that rarely get used. After the first week, it actually started to feel kind of nice. :) We've had internet for about a week now and I'm still working on getting all caught up. I didn't realize how much I relied on the internet for things like paying bills and school. It's so easy to just print off a worksheet on a topic that needs more review, but it's also easy to waste a lot of time browsing.

During that time, the kids made a couple of funny comments that I jotted down to record.

I was making peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, and Adam pipes up, "I know where honey comes from." Me: "Really, where?" Adam: "Bees." Me: "And how do the bees get it?" Adam: "From the store."

Another day, Tyler had been outside working on sanding his pinewood derby car. He came into the kitchen where I was grinding wheat, making bread, and making pizza dough while spelling words for Jeanisha, helping Eli with math, answering Melynda's questions, and trying to keep Adam and Lincoln out of trouble as they "helped." He stood there watching for a minute or two and then he said, "Mom, since you are not doing anything right now, do you want a turn sanding my car." I can't imagine what my day would be like I was "doing something."

I also wanted to copy some of Jeanisha's kindergarten writing. I love when they are at the stage where they write with the phonetic spelling. Especially Jeanisha who writes much more than the boys did at her age. Today she was supposed to describe what she could see from the desk she was sitting in. She chose to describe the window.

it has scwirs. it is sefoor. it is rit in frunt of mi sid uv the desk.

Translated: It has squares. It is see through. It is right in front of my side of the desk.

She is still my workbook loving child and is determined that she will catch up to Tyler by the end of summer on math and writing. She sits and listens when I am teaching him and often surprises me by what she picks up. She's figured out multiplication and is starting to catch on to the two digit multiplication that Tyler is learning. It's nice to have one kid who is so easy to teach! She often has to be told to put the school books away on Sunday!

Ryan finishes 5th grade in public school on Wed. and is very excited to start homeschooling again. I was planning to let him start again after Memorial Day (we do light school all summer), but he was insistent that he should get to start on Thursday, the day after he gets out. He's been so excited about his algebra book that he's already done the first 10-15 lessons, for fun. (We use Life of Fred, and it really is a fun way to learn math.)He's enjoyed public school, but has missed being challenged and is excited to "learn something new again." He's helped pick out the books and topics for next year and is excited about being home. I think the main thing he will miss is choir and I'll be checking with the middle school about dual enrollment options for that for next year. Hopefully his enthusiasm will last for awhile!

Tyler is finishing 3rd grade and finally reached the point where he doesn't hate writing. It's still not his favorite, but it's not the battle it was. He is enjoying math for the most part, but generally just wants to get it done so he can go play outside or dig in the hole. Over spring break the kids dug a 6 foot deep hole what has continued to grow and get filled in and grow again. We've decided to bury the trampoline, so now they have a much bigger hole marked out and permission to expand their hole. Right now, it's about 8 feet in diameter, 4-6 feet deep. And if it takes all summer, that's fine. It is such a good project for them to learn to work together and to stick with it and just have fun. Every time friends come over, they go straight to the hole and spend a good bit of time digging.

Eli (1st grade) has made huge progress with school. In the fall, he didn't know all his letter sounds and couldn't count to 15. He's now up to grade level on math and reading phonics readers pretty well. He struggles with fluency and sight words and is still well below grade level with that, but his progress is really amazing. He's working on an animal book where he draws a picture of the animal, colors it, then copies 4-5 sentences below the picture. He is very proud of his book and how many pages he is getting in it.

Melynda is finishing up her junior year and has also done well. It's been a hard year for her academically as she's worked to fill in gaps from the past, especially with math. She is also learning to have higher expectations for herself and learning that she is smart enough to get good grades. She, like most high schoolers, is ready for a break and the fun activities coming this summer.

You either have to laugh or cry

Today I was at ShopKo with the 4 younger kids, basically killing time for 1 1/2 hours while the others were doing the testing for school. They had been mostly good, but Lincoln was a typical 2 year old pulling things off shelves into the cart anytime he could reach something. At one point, right near the end of our shopping trip, he grabbed a spatula set out of a bin. I pulled it out of his hands and tossed it back and said "No." Not a mad no, but a "I've had enough and you better knock it off" no. He knew he was in trouble and started to cry/throw a fit. I moved up to push the front cart with Adam in it, Jeanisha was pushing Lincoln right behind me, and Eli was walking right behind her. My cell phone rang. It was my friend who was just picking up her son from testing and I knew she would be updating me about whether my kids were done. As I'm talking to her, this really rude, obnoxious man, a total stranger, walks up to me and says (insert snappy tone), "Lady, don't you think you should stop yapping on your phone and take care of your kids. One of them is crying, in case you didn't notice."

I responded that he was throwing a fit because I had just taken something away from him. He responded, "I know, I saw that too, and you didn't handle that very well either. The way you took it away was unacceptable."

I was speechless. As he walked off, he muttered, loudly, "Some people just don't know how to be parents."


I just wanted to scream or at least think of a smart aleck comeback!!!! But now, a few hours later, it's quite funny. I'd love to trade him places for an hour or two (at the store) and see how he handles it!

Ultrasound Today

I had my 22 week ultrasound today and everything looks good with our little GIRL!!!!! She's due August 11th. We will probably name her Cumorah.

Highlights

So much has happened lately that I am just going to post some pictures and highlights. They will probably not be in any real order, just however I find them on the memory card. :) And each picture should probably have it's own post, but I just don't have time.


The kids have been in 2 plays with Missoula Children's Theatre. This picture shows Melynda as an Icicle marker and Jeanisha as a Dust Bunny in the Princess and the Pea. Then Eli was a bat in Snow White and the other kids were in the Pre-Show. Melynda as the wicked queen, Ryan and Tyler as dwarfs, and Jeanisha as Squeaker the mouse. They did great and had lots of fun. Missoula Children's Theatre comes to town with all the costumes and props and the kids try out on Monday, practice all week, and perform on the weekend. It's busy and crazy, but fun.



Then we went to McCall for the Winter Carnival. They make wonderful ice sculptures and we love to go see them. We found a fun hotel room with enough beds for the whole family in one room and had a blast!














Next came Adam's 4th Birthday with a party at Chuck E Cheese. He is such a great kid and so fun to be around. He's small for his age, and Lincoln is big, so we are asked CONSTANTLY if they are twins. He loves to play outside and with his brothers and to go feed the ducks at the Greenbelt. One of his favorite presents was 2 bags of stale hamburger buns and the promise to go feed ducks. He even wanted the greenbelt and ducks on his cake.


The next picture is one of many that Tyler set up to make a wonderful powerpoint book report on Charlotte's Web. I had originally asked him to set up one scene, but he was having so much fun it quickly evolved into about 20 scenes covering all the main points in the book.


Then came Melynda's first big day when the adoption was finalized and her name was legally changed forever. We went to court and the three of us were sworn in along with the caseworker and the judge made everything official. One of her favorite perks of being adopted is that now she can ride with someone under 18 (like home from mutual) and I don't have to get a copy of everyone's driver's license. Another important "perk" was that she could finally be baptized. She had taken the discussions from 3 awesome missionaries, Elder Blair from Arizona, Elder Itche-a-Ramon (from France and spelled totally wrong), and Elder Tomaz from Utah. We loved having them in our home every Sunday afternoon for about 6 weeks before her baptism and the spirit they brought. Elder Itche-at-Ramon left to go home right before she was baptized and Elder Blair was also on his way home and came with his parents.

The baptism itself was wonderful. I think the fact that she had wanted it so long made it extra meaningful. There was a huge turnout of friends, family, and ward members there to support her. (Thank you!) One of the most memorable things about the day was the squeal of excitement she gave as she came up out of the water. She was so excited, she just couldn't hold it in.

Eli's birthday fell that same weekend and for his party he wanted to go play at a McDonald's playland. Easy enough request! I think he's had withdrawals from McDonald's since coming to leave with us. He also wanted a pink snowman and flowers on his birthday cake. I had fun being creative and think it turned out great!



Since then, Melynda had a piano recital, of which I have no pictures, only a video that won't load, but she did great. Then Ryan had a choir concert (he also had a solo on the CD the school made and was very proud of that.)


Tyler and Stephen ran in the Mad Hatter relay. Each person runs 2 legs, 2 miles each. Tyler was the youngest racer, but they had lots of fun and took 3rd in the Men's division. As soon as they finished Tyler asked when they could race again. He loves running and is really good at it, especially long distances. 3-4 miles is easy and after a sip or two of gatorade, he's ready to go again. He's way faster than I am and keeps up pretty good with Stephen pacing him. Pretty good, especially when you figure he legs are half the length Stephen's are. Next is a Beat Coach Pete (from Boise State) 5K in April, and then either a 10K or Half Marathon in May. Stephen's planning to do the Half, but we'll see how Tyler does with training to see which he wants to do.



I think that about catches up the last couple months. At least the things I have pictures of. :) The kids are currently involved in lots of activities, (gymnastics, PE, track, karate, scouts. . . . ) and keeping me busy. We are also doing lots of yard work to tackle the overgrown yard-- but I have hundreds of bulbs coming up, so it should be pretty in spite of the neglect here soon. Eli's adoption should be finalized in April, we're just waiting for some last paperwork. Then he and Melynda will be able to get sealed to us in the temple. So, I'm sure the next few months with be just as busy, but I will try to post a little more often to record all the fun memories. :)

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

One of my friends was blogging about how unhealthy the fake mac and cheese is, so I wanted to share my homemade macaroni and cheese recipe. We love it and it's super easy to make. Use whole wheat macaroni noodles. For my family I quadruple it.

1 1/4 cups macaroni
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp mustard
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup milk
2 c. cheese, divided
1/4 cup cracker crumbs

Cook macaroni according to package. While it's cooking, melt butter in large bowl in the microwave. Stir in flour, salt, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and pepper. Heat milk in microwave for 1 minute. Stir into flour mixture and heat for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir and heat for 1 1/2 more minutes. Stir and heat for 1 minute more. (With a quadruple batch, I do 3-5 minutes between stirring.) You'll know it's ready when it starts to thicken up. Add 1 1/2 cups of cheese into the white sauce. Stir until melted. Add in drained macaroni and mix. Top with cracker crumbs and sprinkle with remaining cheese.


This also reheats really good!

Upcoming Big days

We have some fun days coming up in the next little bit with birthdays and the adoptions.
Adam's birthday is Feb 28, Melynda's adoption will be finalized Mar 3, Eli's birthday is March 12 (but we'll celebrate on the 11th) because Melynda's baptism will be on March 12th at 1:00. (I would love to have a good turnout for her, so if you want directions, leave a comment or email me.)
Then Jeanisha's birthday is March 29, and Eli's adoption will be finalized the first week or so of April. Then mid-April, Melynda and Eli will get sealed to us in the temple.

It's amazing to think that this process has taken a little over 2 years from when we started our homestudy. 2 1/2 if you start when we decided now was the time to adopt. There are hard days, but overall it's been mostly good. Stephen is still a little overwhelmed by teenage drama some days, and the testing phase leaves me exhausted some days, but when I look at how far Melynda and Eli have come, it's a miracle.

Groceries Galore

I am amazed at the amount of food that gets consumed around here! Maybe it's because we added two older mouths instead of having it sneak up gradually, but my grocery bill has doubled over the past year. Last night for dinner I made a quadruple batch of German pancakes. That is 24 eggs, plus flour, milk, and butter. It makes 4 9*13 pans. Melynda was babysitting and Stephen got stuck late at jury duty, so it was just me and the 6 younger kids. I thought at first there would be leftovers, but it ended up that I only got one piece. They ate all 4 pans as fast as I could serve it, cut it up, and add syrup. Lincoln alone ate almost 1/2 a pan.

For breakfast, Ryan and Stephen are not here, but if I do fried eggs, they will eat 18-20. If I make something like Enchiladas, it takes at least two pans, plus whatever vegetables or side dishes. When Stephen made pancakes awhile back, he made over 50, and we each got 2. I realize there are 9 people eating, but it still amazes me HOW much food that is. Peanut butter sandwiches for lunch uses 1 1/2- 2 loaves of bread, depending on the size loaf and if Stephen is home.

The other thing that gets devoured are bananas. The rule is that anytime you are still hungry, or want a snack between meals, you can have a banana (or peanut butter sandwich). Bananas are filling and cheap, easy to eat without making a big mess, and good for you. Plus kids eat them for breakfast or with lunch sometimes. I bought 26 lbs. of bananas thinking I would have enough left over for banana bread. Nope, they were gone in under a week.

Just thinking about my food bill when these kids are all teenagers is scary. :) I remember my mother-in-law saying that when her 3 boys left on missions, they saved enough on food to pay for one mission. I believe it!

Pneumonia Miracle

This is from a couple weeks ago, but I never got it posted.

Lincoln is 2, and a generally healthy kid. Last week he came down with the croupy cough and the fever that disappears in the morning. Then all day he would play and run just fine. Friday morning, I woke the kids up to get ready for our homeschool co-op. Lincoln was teasing and laughing as I got him dressed, then went downstairs to eat. He started whimpering in his chair, so his older brother Tyler lifted him out to come upstairs to me. I was in my room and saw him as he came slowly up the stairs. Then in the hallway, he collapsed. Fell completely to the ground. He then tried to crawl towards me, but it was as if his arms had lost their strength.

I hurried and picked him up and laid him on the bed. He curled up in a ball and just lay there whimpering. I felt his head and he was burning with fever (which had NOT been there 15 minutes earlier). I decided to still drop the older 4 kids off at co-op, so I would have only the two little boys to take to the dr.'s office whenever they could fit me in. I wrapped Lincoln in a coat and blanket to take to the van and he was just limp. He couldn't even lift his head up!

We drove the 30 minutes to co-op and he didn't move. I was still waiting to hear back from the nurse. As the other kids were climbing out of the car, he started throwing up. He had only taken a little water that morning anyway, so now I was worried about dehydration as well. Even when he was throwing up, he didn't have the strength to lift up his head. I pulled off the soiled clothes, wrapped him in a blanket and settled him back in his car seat. The nurse called back and said we could be seen at 1:15.

I was sure at this point that he was going to be hospitalized. I suspected RSV and probably a week in the hospital. Unfortunately, we've had plenty of experience with sick kids, and he was acting just like the others did when they ended up in the hospital. I called my husband and told him to arrange to work from home next week, and started mentally planning out what I would have to do to be able to handle a hospital stay on top of everything else right now.

We got back home and I took Lincoln in for a warm bath to clean him up. Then I gave him a sippy of apple juice. Within about 10 minutes, he was a completely different kid. He was back to teasing, running, and playing. He did not act sick in the slightest. But we still had the Dr. appt, so I took him anyway. After the exam and an X-ray, we found out he has a case of pneumonia. He SHOULD be totally sick. He probably SHOULD be in the hospital. But he is acting perfectly healthy. We came home with an antibiotic and instructions to go to the hospital if he gets bad again.

I think Heavenly Father knew that a week long hospital stay was likely more than our family could handle at this point. So I'm very grateful for our pneumonia miracle.

Ironman and Sprint Triathlon

The Ironman is finished! We all 3 finished it in a month. I finished Thursday night about 20 minutes before Stephen, which was my goal. (So now I get to treat myself to a Blizzard.) Time wise, I took a lot longer, but I do longer workouts. He usually goes and works out in the morning almost everyday, but only has about 30 minutes. I go a few times a week and do almost 2 hours (childwatch is for 2 hours). I felt like I lived at the Y, but I was excited to finish. Melynda finished today. I don't know how someone can do that all in one day!!!! Total it was 80 laps of swimming (2.4 miles), 112 miles on the bike, and 26.2 of running.

Then today, we went and did our Sprint Triathlon. It was 8 laps (1/4 mile) of swimming, 6 miles on the bike, and 2 miles of running. Just like the one we did back in August, but indoor, and they don't count transition times. We all beat our previous times by quite a bit. Last August, my bike seat wasn't adjusted right and my bike time was way higher than it should have been. That made it easy to cut time this time.

Here are the times:

Stephen in August Total: 55:49 Swim: 15:11 Bike 20.59 Run 18.57
Stephen today Total 46:04 Swim 10:31 Bike 17.45 Run 17.48

Janet August Total 1:22:09 Swim 16:36 Bike 41.25 Run 23.14
Janet today Total 58:17 Swim 10:28 Bike 23:11 Run 24:38

Melynda August Total 1:24:31 Swim 17:49 Bike 39.27 Run 26.24
Melynda Today Total 1:09:17 Swim 10.23 Bike 28.43 Run 30:11