So Much Culture...

We've been so blessed in the last week to experience two wonderful, culture-ful nights! Last Friday the boys and I were given tickets to attend a fabulous, outdoor, symphony and opera performance. I was naturally a bit concerned about the kids behavior, since opera is not exactly on their list of favorites. Thank heaven we went with good friends to entertain them! We got there quite early and enjoyed a picnic dinner on a blanket. The kids goofed off and played until the performance started. I have to say they did pretty well, all things considered. The vocalist, Fredrika Von Strade, did a small introduction to each song with a small story or explanation, and put so much expression in her music that even the foreign language songs were thoroughly entertaining. One of my favorites was 'I'm just a girl who can't say no' from Oklahoma. So fun to hear that song sung in an operatic voice! After the intermission, the sun and heat were long gone, so we all huddled under the blankets together. It really was an experience and I'm so glad we could go! Thanks Dawn, for the tickets and the company!

Our other big night this week was at Roger's Memorial Theater. They performed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, one of my all-time favorites. It was the perfect play to take a family to; they were familiar with the story and all the songs are so colorful and fun. The boys liked it and Sadie was enthralled. It probably helped that I had a steady supply of Root Beer Barrels to snack on, but we all had such a good time. I look forward to the day when our little family is old enough to enjoy a trip to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival.

And now... pictures that I promised in my last post:

This is us in the 4th of July parade. Nate was there, too, but way ahead of us.

This is one of my favorites of Nathan, thanks to my sister Sara.

This next one is of Sadie swimming on her birthday.

Sadie's Birthday and Independence Day

I'm back! I did sort of drop off the face of the earth for a while (though, honestly, I was just lazy and busy), but here's some of the fun we've had so far this summer...

Sadie's birthday was in June and this is her in her new dress from grandma Perkins.


Brandon, Sadie, Nate and I all marched in the Centerville 4th of July parade. Our stake primary had a float which said "Catch the vision of what you can be", so we all had bug nets to catch the butterflies. It was about 3 miles from start to finish and the kids did awesome. I only had to carry Sadie on my shoulders for a few blocks. :o) I haven't got those pics off the camera yet, but they're coming soon. We also went to the Independence Day concert in the park, followed by fireworks. Everyone had a great time!

I hope you've all had a fun, relaxing summer so far! And I promise to do better at posting updates more often. :o)

I LOVE SUMMER!!!

Okay, it's technically not summer yet, but it's finally warm enough to really enjoy the outdoors! The boys and Nick had a great time camping at a fathers & sons camp, while Sadie and I settled for a girls' night walk to Walmart.
We've also been gardening with my sil, Shelly, and the kids have loved all the bugs, worms and snails they've encountered. This picture is of a BLUE potato bug, though my camera phone doesn't show it well. We looked it up and found out the poor bug has an indovirus, which turned it blue.
Nick and I enjoyed a peaceful hike the other day, which ended up being shorter than we planned because I forgot about spring runoff. In the fall it was a mellow trickle with several ways to cross, but now it's all under a foot of rapid, cold, newly-melted snow! It was still beautiful and we loved having a date night! Thanks Dawn & Eric for babysitting. :o)

In homeschool we just finished a quick unit on plants. I'll hopefully have time to post copies of the lapbooks they did. Studying plants is perfect for this time of year and the boys are super-excited to start learning about rocks and minerals next. I'm hoping to take a trip to Southern Utah to see all the cool rock formations, but we'll have to see if we can squeeze it in (and if our van can handle it). Summer weather here we come!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!!

Yes, this is a bit late. His birthday was over a week ago, but it really was a fun party. Each game was based on a book in the Magic Tree House series. His cake is an igloo, from the book Polar Bears Past Bedtime. Some of the other games were a lava jumping obstacle course from Vacation under the Volcano, deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphics from Mummies in the Morning and a treasure hunt from Pirates Past Noon. Everyone had fun and it worked for both boys and girls of different ages. :o)
We had pizza with a stuffed lion on the center of the table, which was from Lions at Lunchtime.

Happy Birthday Brandon!!! You are a wonderful, fun, energetic, cheerful boy and we love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you to all the mothers in my life! To the one who raised me and the one who raised my husband, you have set a shining example of service, hard work, compassion, nobility and selflessness. To my grandmothers, you have given me memories of laughter and joy, and instilled a love of extended family. To my sisters, though not mothers of children yet, you have shown me forgiveness, endurance and spontaneous fun. To my sisters-in-law, you have brought wonderful new ideas and experiences to our family. To so many friends and sisters in the gospel, you have each touched my life in glorious, sweet, surprising ways. I am surrounded by such amazing women! Thank you all for your encouragement, kindness, support and smiles. So much of what I have achieved in this life is a result of your love and examples. You represent everything that a woman has the capacity to be; what I am striving toward as a mother, sister, daughter and friend.

Thank You! Happy Mother's Day!

I just have to say, it is so handy to have an artist for a husband!!! Brandon's birthday is coming up and we're doing a Magic Tree House (book series) party. Nick drew, scanned, colored and perfected this invite in about half an hour! The kids were thrilled and it cost me nothing. Yay! Now I just have to organize the rest of the party, clean my house, bake the cake, buy the goodies...

Peloponnesian Times

Good name for an Ancient Greek newspaper, don't you think? Here is the final product of our efforts. The kids did all the writing (Brandon did dictate part of his) and drew pictures to go with everything. Unfortunately two pictures have mysteriously disappeared, so we replaced them with some clipart. So here you go...


We are drawing near the end of our journey through ancient Greece, and will probably finish up our Lapbooks on Tuesday. I will, of course, post pictures of them. Now, what to study next?

Ancient Greece

We've spent a few days creating a newspaper from ancient Greece. I'll post the whole thing when it's finished, but so far we have some great stuff: Achilles' Obituary, a few want ads, a sports section all about the Olympics, and a theater review of Oedipus Rex! And of course, each story has a picture to go with it. Nate did this comic page. I can't wait to see the whole newspaper when it's complete, the boys have really done a super job!

Today we also started some weaving on a simple cardboard loom. It's not exactly authentic ancient Greek, but it's been fun to try. I probably should have done a much smaller one for Brandon, but Nate will probably finish his in the next few days. Once again, pictures will come when the project is finished.

The boys also each did a one-page report about one of the Greek Gods. Nathan chose Hermes
and Brandon did Zeus. Brandon's has more information under the green flap with the picture of Zeus.

What did I do today?

By the end of each evening I usually look around at the papers, crumbs and to-do list for the next day; and it's so easy to feel like nothing I do makes a real difference. I know I'm not the only mommy to ever feel this way, and logically I know my kids need and love me. So here is a cute video of Hillary Weeks singing a little song that perfectly expresses my feelings.

Easter!!!

The past weekend was busy, crazy, fun and inspiring. My sister, Sara was in town, so we did all the Easter celebrating as well as a little extra!

A few of the highlights...

Friday afternoon was an Easter egg hunt for the kids at my mom's house. The picture is of Sadie and her cousin Tyler all ready to go search for eggs to fill their baskets. Everyone had a great time and I think we even found most of the eggs! Then the kids did some little relay games. I'll post pictures of that as soon as I get them.

Friday night we had a (nontraditional) special passover dinner, consisting of fish sticks, grape juice, olives and pita bread. The kids especially loved eating dinner by candlelight and had a million questions about the last supper, passover and candles.

Later that night Nick and I went to see the Improvables at Rogers' Memorial Theater. My brother, Scott, is one of the participants and it was so much fun! We all laughed until our sides hurt and have decided we will be attempting Improv games for FHE sometime soon.

On Saturday, the Easter Bunny dropped by our house and left gifts for the kids. This was Nathan's suggestion and I'm really glad, because it went so well and we will definitely do this again next year. The kids each got a hat, instead of basket, filled with flip-flops, puzzles, little toys and (of course) candy.

Also on Saturday, my wacky family did a Murder Mystery Lunch. We each dressed up as a character, revealed secret clues and accused each other of being the guilty party. My character had a French accent, which is really hard to maintain when everyone else was British, but it was a riot. Having so many dramatic siblings makes this one activity we have loved doing over and over again. I'll probably put up pictures of this too, as soon as I get them.

Sunday, of course, was Easter. I had finally finished the dress I've been making for Sadie on Saturday night and she was thrilled to wear it to church. (Once again, pictures will be posted later.) Nick sang with the choir in church and it was an inspiring meeting. The speakers and musical numbers were all thoughtful and testimony-building.

Once again, we had a big lunch at my family's and played more games. We had a great round of "Eat poo you cat", which has nothing to do with cats or excrement, but always gets us giggling. To play, each person has a stack of papers in front of them equal to the number of players. We each write an interesting sentence (usually about a family member or recent event) on the top piece of paper and label it with our initial and the number one. We then pass the paper to our left and the next person takes a new piece of paper and labels it with our initial and the number two. They then draw a picture of whatever your sentence was. Their picture is then passed to the third person, who, not having seen the original sentence, writes a sentence about what they see in the picture. This is repeated until each person has done a picture or sentence about each player's original sentence. Then we read them all aloud and show everyone the pictures.

I probably haven't explained it very well, and some games are more hilarious than others, but it is one our family keeps loving over and over again. We also call it 'the paper game'.

My sister had to return to Oregon after that and our weekend finally slowed down a little. I had just enough time to get semi-prepared for the week!

I have decided to help out a friend and will be babysitting three days a week. In the mornings there will only be one little girl, which keeps Sadie entertained while the boys and I do home-school. Then at lunch time the preschooler and kindergartner come home, followed by the oldest boy at 3:30. My kids have absolutely loved it! Guaranteed playtime with their best friends, and it makes sure I get up on time and don't waste my day.

Overall, life is still busy, but going well. We've only had a few nibbles on the condo so far, nobody really interested in buying. Hopefully that will change, but we'll be happy to stay here if it doesn't.

Congratulations! You have finally reached the end of this crazy-long post! Next time I'll definitely add more pictures and less words. :)

What a week!!!

Our new computer is up and running! Hurray!!! We've also been frantically fixing, painting, organizing and packing; and we are finally ready. Our condo is officially for sale!!! It's not quite perfect yet, and to be honest, it will never be perfectly clean while we are still living in it. Hopefully it is nice enough that people will appreciate it.

We are both excited and scared, but ready to move on. So once again, if you know anyone who might want to buy a cute little condo...

Computer Woes

Our dinosaur-aged computer is throwing tantrums. At the moment it is choosing not to cooperate and shuts down randomly. So, I'm at my parent's home now, and may not post again for a little while.

The good news is we have a new computer! Well, at least half of one. We just need to get the old one to stay on long enough to access the files that we want to save. I have sooo much school stuff on my computer. This is going to be a challenging week. Nothing like a challenge to inspire creativity, right? I'm sure I'll have an inspirational and astounding school project of some sort to post about when we get our new computer together...

Wish me luck!

Spring Cleaning!

This year I have some real encouragement to clean...

We're trying to sell our condo 'by owner' which means our house needs to *sparkle*! We've been making progress today. I even took pictures of some of the rooms and have started working on a new blog. It will have all the details about our condo, and when we list it on ksl and craig's list, we can include a link to the blog. That way people can see a lot more information and pictures than are usually available. Anyway you're welcome to take a look.

I'm hoping to list it by the end of the week!!! YIKES! I'm nervous. If you know anyone who's looking to buy, our condo is probably the least expensive 3-bedroom condo available in Centerville. Also, we'll need a place to rent when we do sell, so keep your eyes open for us and wish us luck!

Space Lapbooks!

Here they are! This one is Nathan's. I do have to say, once again, that lapbooks are so much better in person when you can lift the flaps and open the books. But for those of you who can't come over to our house, this gives you an idea of what we do. :o)

This is the sun page, the star page,


the planet page and the moon page,


and the last one has galaxies and vocabulary. We also had some information on Astronomers, Astronauts and Telescopes that I didn't post.


Now, we are moving on to Ancient Greece!!!

PS - Thanks to Nick's mom for the cool space pictures link!

Haircuts and Cocoons!

I just realized it's been a week since I posted! I'm so sorry. There are three main things to add: Sadie and I got haircuts, Moon-Shine made his cocoon and we finished our Space Lapbooks.

Haircuts first! Sadie and I went together and both cut our hair much shorter than it's been. It's a bit of a shock, but we like it. I didn't realize how much my natural waves would affect the style. In these pictures, it's pretty much unstyled, doing whatever it wants! LOL

On Saturday night our little caterpillar started acting funny. He would pick up a little tiny twig in his mouth and stick it to the side of the bucket. Then he did it again and again. I took pictures of the process and he's in the top left corner of most of the photos. I found out it's called a leaf-litter cocoon. He is wrapped in cocoon threads inside all the leafs and twigs he pulled around him. I'm really not normally fond of bugs, but it was so cool to watch! Now I just have to figure out how to build a butterfly house within the next two weeks!

I'll have to post about the boys space lapbooks later...

Moon-Shine

No, we are not learning about alcohol brewery in homeschool! We're studying outer space and this is the name my kids have chosen for the newest member of our household: a caterpillar.

Thanks to the glorious arrival of spring, we were outside for several hours today. Nathan found a caterpillar and, of course, had to keep him. This is especially funny if you read my husband's latest 'Dadmocracy' cartoons (el cartoonista link on my side-bar).

So we've spent time today figuring out what kind of leaves he likes to eat and researching what kind of home we'll need to keep him in. Right now he's just in a bucket and I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't learn how to climb up the walls of it while we're sleeping tonight!

If he survives long enough to enter the chrysalis stage, I'll make a butterfly house and we can keep him for a while. It would be a great science project. Hopefully he's tough and healthy and won't die anytime soon. Unfortunately, our track record with small pets is not very good. Is it possible for animals to die from overexposure to excitable children?

Book Review: Molly Moon

I only read this book because my son was reading it, and it's pretty rare that he'll touch a book with a female lead character. I have to admit it was wonderful! I found myself giggling uncontrollably a few times and had to wipe the tears from my eyes before I could continue. Also, I like that she learns a lesson and becomes a better person at the end of the book.

Being Prepared

I have been asked to talk in our ward about food storage and how we've done it. So this is long, but here's my rough draft:

Preparedness with Little Space or Money

Set goals and make decisions: We decided in August that we were going to start taking food storage seriously. We made a goal to have a certain amount of money set aside each month. Our budget was already tight, so we weren't exactly sure where this money would come from. I also made lists of what we needed and what we had. We prayed sincerely and consistently for our Father in Heaven to help us. We saved all the money we could and when we started to falter, the Lord stepped in and blessed us. He made it possible for us to be in the position we are. Our food storage is still a work in progress, but at least it's progressing!
"Replace feelings of fear with an act of faith."

Three-Month Supply: The church suggests starting with a 3-month supply of the foods you usually eat. The easiest way to start accumulating is to simply buy two or three instead of one item when you're at the store, especially when it's on sale. Every spring and fall, there are Case Lot Sales. We saved up our money in between these times, so that when things are on sale we have the cash to buy in bulk and end up saving money.
Finding a place to put food storage, even a three-month supply can be very difficult. In our small 1200 square foot condo, we had to be creative. I decided to just get the food and bring it home, and I would find a place for it. And it works. Under beds are a great place to store things. Our canned goods are under the boys beds in their room, this is nice because it also prevents them from putting toys under the bed when they're supposed to be putting them away. Under our own bed we have #10 cans of wheat and oats. The large buckets would be more difficult to fit in our home, so most of our long-term storage is in the #10 cans.
We have also rearranged our closets a bit, even moving some things out of the closet to shelves or dressers, so we can fit buckets or boxes in the closets. I know people who have cleaned out their linen closet, keeping towels in the bathroom and sheets in the bedroom, so they can store food on the shelves in their closet.
We rotate our three-month supply when we buy new food, by moving old food into pantry, and the new food under the bed. We use the old food, but if we replace it every 6 months to a year, it will never go bad.

Drinking Water We definitely do not have space for a big blue barrel of water in our condo. So we had to be a little creative again. We have space for a few cases of bottled water and some old juice bottles filled with water that we can use for washing, not drinking. Then we go a filtered water pitcher, with extra filters. This is not ideal and if we had space we would choose to store more water, but this is a way for us to hopefully clean whatever water we can get hold of if we have the need.

Financial Reserve Pray. A lot. And act on faith. We decided to keep an emergency account with one thousand dollars. We have used this to cover unexpected car or medical expenses, when our check-book just can't cover it. Then we put in a little each month until it's back up to 1000.
In August we felt we couldn't just rely on miracles to pay for our storage, so we all have extra little jobs to make it possible. I believe the Lord rewards us for our effort. The kids and I have a paper route. It's very small and only makes about $10/month, but it's a way for the kids to help out. They aren't slaves though, they get to keep any tips for themselves and we also agreed to let them help us decide which storage foods to buy with the paper route money. So, we have chocolate milk, popcorn and dried strawberries, all earned by them. Nick also delivers pizza one night a week, which is just a few hours of time, but a couple hundred dollars will buy a lot of wheat!!!

Longer-Term Supply Speaking of wheat...one of the best things I can do for my family's food storage is to learn how to use it. I know how to bake bread and though I don't do it all the time, at least I know that if the need arises I can do that. My family will be eating soft yummy bread, rolls and pancakes instead of a month or two of me baking bread that has the consistency of a rock, while I figure out how to cook and my family is hungry and relying on me. Other important cooking skills are home-canning and using dried beans and wheat.
Being in a condo, we don't have much of a garden. So, the past two years, I have helped my sister plant and take care of her garden, in return for half the produce. The winter months have been so hard because the price of produce seems so outrageous compared to simply picking what I want. Fruit trees and a garden are a great source of food! The cost of planting is so minimal compared with the harvest. And if you grow more than you eat, there are always others to share with.
The church cannery makes food storage simple, delicious and as inexpensive as possible. They are always completely organized and usually offer the best price. Everything is packaged in a safe way and you can count on that food lasting you for years without going bad. In September, we were able to obtain large amounts of food for a cheaper price somewhere else, so we borrowed a canning machine, which is free, and canned the food for less than what it would have cost at the cannery.

72 hour kits Each person in our family has a backpack with typical 72-hour kit items and an old ice cream bucket with food. Because I have a tendency to fill them and then forget about them for a few years, we decided to check them twice a year at conference time. I pull them out a few days early and determine which foods will be expire or need to be replaced. Then the kids get to snack on the juice boxes, crackers and granola bars during General Conference.
I have also printed and attached a paper to each bucket and backpack. It has the person's picture, name and emergency contact information. So the kids know which bucket is theirs and also, so that if we are ever separated in an emergency, they have the information with them to help them find us.

So you can see how, with little space and even less money, we have been able to prepare our family for what may lie ahead. It didn't happen overnight, but with consistent effort and faith in the Lord, it is possible and it will bring immeasurable comfort and peace to our home.

More Pictures!!!

These are of the dress I'm making; close-ups of the crochet lace edge. Only one more sleeve to go and then I can put the whole thing together.

The rest are from my trip to Southern Utah.

Delicious Experiment!

I was fiddling around with one of my favorite, most flexible recipes and came up with a wonderful new idea! They are not too sweet, with just a hint of maple, but enough that they aren't bland. My kids loved them and so did my neighbors!

Maple Muffins

1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp maple flavoring
1 T baking powder
2 cups flour


In a large bowl combine the oil, egg milk, sugar, salt and maple flavoring. Mix well with a whisk. Add flour and baking powder at the same time and stir until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a rack. Makes one dozen.

*Because we have nut allergies in our family, I didn't add any nuts but I'm sure they would taste great!

Other additions to the basic muffin recipe:
In stead of maple flavoring, add 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (with raisins if your kids will eat them!)
or 1/2 cup blueberries
or add the cinnamon and one apple, peeled, cored and diced. (my favorite)

I have done this recipe with whole wheat flour and half whole wheat/half white flour. It also works to substitute honey or brown sugar for the white sugar, and apple sauce for the oil.

I saw a recipe for lime coconut muffins the other day...maybe I'll give that a try next! I love to make the muffins, because I can get up and have them in the oven in 10 minutes, then shower while they're baking. I wake up the kids to the aroma of freshly baked breakfast! (It's amazing how quickly the beds are made and kids are dressed with that smell waiting for them downstairs...) :o)