Winter at last! Well, at least a day of winter.

 Finally some snow to cover up the dead frozen colorless front lawn. We went sledding for the first time today at Lions park. There was a very long sled run there and Edmund and I went so fast he was speechless. Then he decided he wanted to do it again and again and again! 

Here the kids are building a dinosaur.

 This cat is so funny. It is the neighbors cat and he loves to play in the snow. He is still a tom kitten.

 

The Blue and Gold banquet was this week. Here is a happy cub scout with his little cub bug buddy. We had so much fun making marble runs out of recycled material. It was a successful night with the best committee ever! They come up with the best ideas!

 We have been rehearsing for the Music Man so much that we dream the songs and sing them all week. This scene is the library scene dance. Susan is over on the right (stage left) wearing a blue skirt. This is one of my favorite scenes. They all dance around with books while Harold Hill and Marian the Librarian are falling in love.

Oh, this and that at our house...

The Regional Science Fair!  Susan did a great job waiting patiently for the judges, explaining her project and then waiting for the awards ceremony later. She got a medal and presented her project well. Great job!

 If you had a whole box of band-aids for your Birthday wouldn't you just stick them all over the house in random spots just for fun? Well, that is what Edmund has been doing. The box is almost empty. He gets more attention doing this than putting them on himself and faking injuries.

 Spider-man pj's and a monster truck coloring book can make me happy! Later I just kept coloring and now my whole arm is green. Then I got to take a bath so it was all good. Being three is the best!

Lucy got a haircut! She looks so different. One girl at school commented on how cute it looked every time she saw her. Once at the first recess, then again at lunch. When she saw her at the last recess she just couldn't help but say it again! Lucy just said, "You already said that, thanks."

Mafia to Mormon: My Conversion Story by Mario Facione

This was an interesting short book about a man that completely turned his life back to the Lord and changed to a better person. He also risked it all and had faith that he was taking the right road. It is interesting how the tender mercies of the Lord are not just for you or me but everyone regardless of the mistakes they have made or the life they are living. God knows us, we are his children and we are part of his plan, he wants us to return to live with him again where we can be happy and be with our families again.
Mario Facione lived and breathed his whole life in the Italian Mafia in Detroit. He was raised to take his father's place. He lived for the challenge of the next scam and the big money makers. That all changed one day when two missionaries stopped by.
Now he is a temple worker in Michigan. How did he survive leaving his old life? It was a miracle. This was a wonderful true story of a journey and a discovery of the greatest thing on the Earth, the love of the Savior for all mankind. Don't take the gospel for granted but live your life in Christ to the fullest.

Whole Book

Remembering Isaac: The wise and joyful potter of Niederbipp by Ben Behunin

Super Great Book~!
For me this book was so good on so many levels I don't even know where to start. It has been moved to my overall favorite book this year!  Vicki  finished it two weeks ago and just happened to mention how good it was when we were passing in the hall at church. I was determined to get it and read it too. I found it at the Smithfield library and read it in a week. I couldn't put it down (but sometimes I had to because life goes on). It not only has adventure, suspense and romance (like the holding hands type) but also a little bit of mystery. The part of the book that I loved the best was the fact that my testimony grew as I also became good friends with the old potter of Niederbipp. He was a very Christlike individual. You have got to read this so we can discuss it together! What will be your favorite parts? Who will be your favorite character from the town of Niederbipp?

Whole Book

Birthday Boy!

Edmund O. turned Three! We made a race-car track cake on top of a sheet cake brownie. Then we placed new blue race-cars on the track with a police car chasing them.

 Here he is blowing out the candles! He waited all day for this and was so excited.

 How old are you? THREE!!!! He told everyone how old he was in the store. He must have made friends with 6 different strangers. They thought he was just a cute kid that could hold up three fingers and smile. If only they knew he was a cute kid that actually had just turned three that very day and could finally put three fingers up instead of two.

 Ice Cream! The big kids helped dish out the ice cream and were all a big helpers. We had lots of cousins over to help us celebrate. Aunt Danna came up from Sunset and Aunt Kami came from N. Logan. Pam was sadly sick so she didn't get to come. Aunt Kim came up from SLC.

Mom's have Birthday's too! My angle food cake had cocoa added to it but it didn't taste very chocolate and it defeated the purpose of Angle food being white. It was still fluffy. I had vanilla bean ice cream and whip cream with fresh strawberries. We also had Cowboy pizza for my B-day dinner! YUM!

Look he got a Robot and a monster truck! I think he liked the robot the best. His sister Lucy gave it too him. She bought it with her own money and wrapped it. She is very generous when it comes to presents. He played with it the rest of the evening and ignored all the other presents. Then he slept with it right next to his pillow. In the morning he grabbed it and it ate breakfast with him.

I of course got a spatula. It is a very cool seamless spoon spatula that my sister in law uses to help her scrape the buckets of honey. It can also be used with cooking and doesn't melt.

Right before the cake the little girls were using a can of potatoes as a stool and it tell over and spilled. It was a big mess but luckily a pixie cleaned it up later with the vacuum and I didn't even have to ask them to do it.

Science Fair TEC

Now this was an interesting project! Well presented and nicely done. Everyone likes brownies! Even if they had Spinach in them! Yum! Please do not put Bacon in your brownies, that was a flop. Applesauce was pretty good  but the best brownie for taste was following the recipe! His project actually looked into the psychology of knowing what is in it vs. not knowing and if that changed the taste.

 She swept the 6th grade division off their feet! 1st place and she gets to go to regional Fair in two weeks!
Her project was all about finding a healthy alternative to the fast food deep fried french fry yet still have a great crispy taste. Baked french fries made out of Red potatoes and soaked to remove starch turned out the crispiest! Yum!

 Turning 3 in a few days and Grandma Arlene sent a present! He loves to play with his new cars! There was no way he was going to wait to open them! He also looks at the world a little different now!

Happy Birthday Both GRANDPAS!!!!

The kids wanted to share something special for Grandpas Birthday. Since both grandpas have Birthdays this month this is for you both ! We love you Happy Birthday!

We also included the Taco Cannon song and a special grandpa poem memorized special for your Birthday from Susan. Edmund wanted to do a poem too but we don't know where he came up with his.

The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow

I liked this book because I could relate. It is about a group of girls that have known each other since they were little girls and they went through high school and all kinds of coming of age experiences and they still keep in touch after 40 years. The part I didn't like in this book was when the author tried to glamorize the high school booze parties and many many boyfriends the girls had during that time period in their lives. I did like the last 1/4 of the book when it seemed to be more genuine and real about life and the difficulties of being a mom or loosing a child or getting cancer. I really think the girls were honest and the friendships really helped them through these hard times. They were real people near the end of the book not just bragging spoiled teenagers. I also like how the parent relationships were referred to often and learned from later in life.

Broken Book, Healing Book


I also re-read:
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
and Brisingr (Inheritance #3) by Christopher Paolini

Fashion Review for a new Beehive Girl!

 Susan is 12 and is as silly as they come. She is tall and skinny and has been wearing the same thing for the last 6 months to church. All the Beehive girls are so stylish and all attend public school but one. So what do you do with a girl with no fashion sense? Grandma Carol decided to help her out a bit. But this was not easy task because she is PICKY! She also had to make the clothes without Susan right there to try them on and adjust them so this was double tricky. (now if we could only get her to brush her hair!)

 Here is her new black skirt with the polka-dots on the bottom. She was already wearing the socks and she wouldn't take them off so just ignore them in all the pictures. The Jacket was also remade for a nice touch over the long reddish brown top layered with a shirt underneath. So Cute!

 Here is is without the jacket. Also super cute!

 The next outfit was a brown skirt taken in on the top so it fit her waist. Then a cute shirt under with a lacy fringe added to make it longer and also on top so that it went up higher on the neck. It is perfect! I don't think she will wear the hood up while at church.

Thank you Grandma for helping Susan feel as beautiful as she is with a little help from some cute outfits.
Susan's feet are destined to be as big as her mom's she is already wearing a women's size 7 1/2 wide on the front and skinny on the back! Maybe I should do a post about all the shoes she has gone through in the last 6 months! CRAZY! I love her and am so glad she is my beautiful creative and kind daughter!

Jill

  Jill was sad that she didn't get to be in the Sheep Speak - cousin news letter Grandma Arlene prints and sends out for all the cousins. I just always forget to take pictures of her doing interesting things. So this is all Jill!!!!

This is Jill getting ready to go out and do the chores on a very cold  evening. She has to wear boots because it is messy in the barn and a long walk through the snow to get there, a hat and gloves so she doesn't start crying that she can't feel her fingers. A very warm coat zipped all the way up with pockets for eggs if there is too many to carry in her hand. A head lamp so she can use her hands to do things like feed the rabbits and chickens and an extra flashlight for security. We always turn all the lights off on the way out so we can look at the stars when we are standing in the middle of the field. (We only do this for a few seconds because it is too cold to look for very long) You can see the constellation Orion in the Eastern part of the sky. We also always look for the Temple, which is to the south of our barn and a great view at night, all bright with the towers on both sides lit up. It is about 5 miles from our house. And you can always find it in Cache Valley to help you know where you are if you think you are lost. Jill likes to say, "I know where we are I can see the temple." It is like a security blanket.

 Jill started a gymnastics class offered to homeschoolers. We get a great price because it is during the morning when the gym is usually empty. Some of her friends and cousins are taking the class too. She likes to do things on the parallel bars.

 She loves gymnastics and goes every Monday. The last 15 min. of class all the little siblings can come out on the floor with their moms and it is free time. There is a huge foam pit and two large trampolines. Lots of other stuff and beams...a parachute and of course a lot of soft pads all over the floors.
Edmund loves his class at the end when he just jumps into the pit over and over for 15 min. Last week his dad came and jumped in with him. He also likes to climb. He calls himself spiderman. I didn't get any pictures of him because he was too fast and I had to hold on to him so he didn't get hurt. Okay back to Jill.

 

Jill had a dentist appointment. The second out of 4 scheduled for this year. Yes it is only January! She has 8 cavities and one was so big it couldn't wait any longer. The tooth was caped and her face was numbed. She just stayed on the couch the rest of the day being sad. 

I would be sad too if my brother had an appointment the same day to get his molars sealed. He held so still and was such a good boy so then his mom took him to get a treat. He picked out a HUGE bag of cheese puffs and then ate them all in front of you. Poor Jill couldn't chew because her mouth hurt and she likes cheese puffs too. 

Her mom made her a yogurt shake later.

We also rearranged the the girls room and added a bed for Jill. She is on a trundle and it sticks out part way from under the lower bunk so there would still be room for all of Susan's treasures. The room just seems to be getting smaller and smaller no matter how we arrange it.

On a different thread...
Family home evening we had tickle fights and then ate a very funny looking apple pie without any ice cream. Everyone did so many talents we are all talented out. All the kids said their poems for school, practiced their piano pieces and songs for the tryout, danced and yelled then finally we finished and everyone went to bed!

CAN YOU GUESS THIS PICTURE?

My nephew has a blog where he posts different pictures he looks at under his new microscope and then we have to guess what it is. We thought it would be fun to play the game too. I know, gross but yet so fascinating!

Happy New Year!

 Grandma shared a whole bag of Persimmons with this little guy. He could have eaten them all in one day! They are his favorite but since they are my favorite too we only eat a few a day and share them.

 

Here you have FHE with the talented Susan wrapping her little brother up like a burrito. We couldn't stop laughing as he hopped around the room like a jumping inch worm. 

 Jill got a doll house for Christmas from her cousins. They had too many doll houses so they shared. She loves to play with the whole family of dolls. Her favorite is the swing and the little dog. Sometimes the Pollypockets join the fun too.

 

It finally snowed! There wasn't any snow for Christmas but the end of the first week in Jan. it finally covered the mud and made the world a beautiful place. Too bad it is below freezing so it makes it hard to play outside for very long.

 With the new year comes going back to school. Peter has a hard time getting ready on time in the morning. He can't find his shoes, his coat or his backpack. The girls just keep all these things in one place together but for some reason these are always missing. If he isn't ready in time then he gets left when his dad leaves for work in the morning. This makes his mom very angry because then she has to wake the little kids up and get them dressed and try to get him to school on time. This is Peter barely making it on time to ride with his dad on the first day back to school this year!
Friday they get out early and this Friday I was waiting for my alarm to go off to go pick them up when I got a phone call saying, "mom where are you?" Oh, rats I forgot that Friday was out early! Then my alarm went off at the regular time for picking up the rest of the week. I don't have enough space to set it for Friday early pick up.

 It is Science Fair time! Here is Peter making brownies. He is trying to prove in a taste test if you know what is in the brownie before eating them does this effect how you rate the taste. He switched out the oil ingredient and added things like Spinach, applesauce and shortening, oh and the scariest one he added Bacon grease.

 He had to make sure he didn't get them mixed up. He labeled all the pans and plates. Cutting the brownies was the hard part. They kind of just crumbled or mushed together.

 This was a very mushy bacon grease brownie. I think the smoked flavor was a bit over powering.

 Here are a few test subjects. I think after eating 10 different brownie pieces in the end you are so tired of brownies you would rate them lower. The first couple bites are delicious the 8-10th is blah.

 We still need to organize the data and see if he hypothesis was correct. It was interesting to have older and younger people participate. There were so many variables that the test is a bit flawed but it was still fun do. The science fair is the first week of February.

Here is Susan's project about potatoes. She is using the information from the last project she did on potatoes but going a step further. She wants to find a healthier snack to deep fried french fries. She is using a method of baking them instead of frying. She wants to find out which type out of 200 species of potatoes would be the crispiest using this baked fry method. She only has 3 different types. Russet, Red and Sweet potato.

 Here she is measuring the crispiness by how far she can bend them before they break. They were all bendy so this didn't really work.

 The sweet potatoes just burnt. I think they had too much sugar in them to be cooked at the same temperature and time as the other two.

They all tasted just great but not the burnt ones. Her hypothesis was proven to be incorrect and we don't know what went wrong. The Red potato was the crispiest at this method and she thought for sure the Russet would be crispier. Science is always fun and hopefully we will be able to present the information correctly for an A.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner in Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

This was an interesting book about a boy with Tourettes syndrome. He finds out he has a special power that has to do with electricity. He isn't the only one and soon he is on an adventure he would have rather skipped all together. His life will never be the same and the world depends on him remembering what his mother always told him. If he can have integrity even when facing life or death decisions he just might survive.
I found the explanations about tourettes very educational and a glimpse in a teenagers life with this condition also eye opening. I also liked how the book uses a lot of science and doesn't dumb down the characters. There is one that is really smart and he sounds smart even though he doesn't look smart.
I can't wait to read the sequel!

Healing Book