Catching up

Whenever lots of things are going on that I want to document and remember it unfortunately also means that I get too busy (and thus tired) and it seems like blogging is the first thing that drops of my list.

But late is better than never, so I am going to take some time to jot down some things. If you are a casual reader of my humble blog feel free to skip this one; I'll have some vacation photos coming up very soon.

Here is some of the stuff that we've been up to lately:

• We went to the Monet to Picasso exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Art. I was very impressed. They also had works from Dali, Van Gogh, Rodin, Manet. They had these great handsets that narrated information about all of the exhibits. Lisette really got into it and listed to most everything. I did hear "this is boring" from Ian, and "can we go yet?" from Miles, but I think deep down they really liked it.
• Lisette and I had a Daddy-Daughter date put on by our stake primary. They had a faux Italian restaurant complete with candlelight and dressed up waiters. Lisette and I had a very nice time together. We danced the waltz and the swing, ate dessert from a chocolate fountain and we made tinfoil roses.
• The kids finished their super summer session swimming instruction. Miles and Ian didn't want to continue, but since Lisette and Saffron were still swimming, they decided it was better to swim then just sit there and wait for them. Ian got much better and Miles was very brave and even swam across the deep end of the pool. We'll have a bunch of swimmers before we know it.
  
• We've been busy getting Lisette ready for school. She is going to attend public school in the morning, and then homeschool in the afternoon. We still love homeschooling and it works very well for our family. However, we've felt that Lisette has reached the age where she needs more adult mentors. We really like the unschooling philosophy were you give them free rein to explore and learn all on their own. But we also thought that it would be good for Lisette to try out a set schedule for some of her academics. It is also her last year in elementary, and we thought it would be a good time for her to go to some of public school just for the experience of it.
• Saffron had to have one of her front teeth pulled out. She fell on it when she was one and the tooth died. We took her to the dentist and unfortunately he found out that it had abcessed. So the dentist pulled it out while she was under anethesisia. It was so sad to see our little girl missing a tooth, but she is still as cute as ever.
• We drove to Brigham City to visit Ruth and Darius while they're still in Utah at my Grandma's house. Ruth made us the most yummy apple and cherry pies. We hadfun playing with Zach and Ben and visiting with everyone. Saffron even gave Great Grandma a kiss (after she gave her a dollar).

Saffron loves her little cousin Zach. Here's the kids meeting their cousins for the first time. Melinda is holding Ben and Lisette is holding Zach.
Ruth and Darius courageously took the bus and the train in the summer heat to come visit us. I love their little baby carriers; when Lisette was born Ruth gave us one of these.
Phew! I think I'm almost caught up now. Now I can get on to our vacation. Wahoo!

Hallelujah!

Yeah! Melinda will be home in the next couple of hours! She's been visiting her sister in Minnesota for 5 days and 4 nights (not that anyone's counting.) I think she's had it in her mind for some time to take a trip to visit her sister. Amy has 4 kids (2 of which are very small) so Melinda was going to help her travel to Utah to be at Grandma's funeral.

We were worried about how Saffron would do with her Mom away for so long, but she's done very well. I think it helps a lot having her 3 older siblings look after her; they're very attentive. Melinda also talked to her on the phone once or twice a day and she seemed excited that her mom was coming back with 2 of her baby cousins.

We've done pretty well being orphaned and widowed for these few days, but it will be soooo nice to have Melinda back with us again. We've all missed her very much.

Karen was also very gracious to watch the kids during the day. Thanks Auntie Karen!

We've actually been quite busy these past few days, which probably helped the time pass more quickly. Here's a short list:

1. Thursday we had homeschool Lagoon day. Miles, Ian and I had a great time.
2. Friday we went to Connie's book group "After Hogwarts" at Barnes and Noble.
3. Saturday we gardened and weeded at home. Then in the evening we went up to see Ed, Salena, Teancum, and Rachel. Karen and Wendy fed us (though they also tricked me into helping them plant tomatoes.) Actually, I enjoy gardening so even though it's work it feels recreational.
4. Sunday we went to church in Roy for baby Hope's blessing. My parents, Grandma, and most of my siblings (we missed you, Ruthie!) were there. Everyone got to meet Jame's finance, Brooke, and we had a nice picnic in the park.
5. Sunday evening went back to Grandma and Grandpa's just in time for dinner. The kids were pretty lucky today; two sets of cousins to play with in one day!

Grandma's funeral and viewing are going to be held in the next two days and things will be very busy with all the family in town. It will be busy, but it's a good busy.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Homeschool My Kids

by Melinda

10. Because it’s been a great way to make friends. This may be horrifying, but before I started homeschooling I hadn’t really made new friends for, oh, maybe ten years. But through homeschooling, in the last five years, I’ve made many friends. The kids have also been able to make some good homeschool friends.

9. Because I can. I’m very grateful that our country allows us this freedom. Our country isn’t perfect, but freedom to homeschool is indeed a nice benefit of living in the good old U.S. of A.

8. Because I am a nerd. Researching, planning and buying our homeschool curriculum makes me really happy.

7. Because homeschooling means that our schedule is flexible. When Grandma and Grandpa come to town, no problem. Plus we can take vacations any time of the year!

6. Because I love learning with the kids and homeschooling gives us lots of opportunities to learn as a family.

5. Because my kids can spend more time together. I hope all the time they spend playing Legos together will be one of their enduring memories.

3. Because I can spend more time with my kids. I read an article once where the author (Anna Quindlen?) said something to this effect: Being with your children isn’t all bliss. But it is about as far from dead as you can get.

2. Because I think homeschooling is the best educational option for these particular children right now.

1. Because homeschooling is what I really, really want to do, and life is too short for regrets.

Animal chemistry

Tonight the kids did some more science experiments. They did some chemical reactions and then some acid and base testing.


Saffron helped me start seeds downstairs. She put the labels in the containers, and dropped the seeds in the soil. She kept telling me that I was muddy whenever I got soil on my hands. It worked out well, because Saffron turns into a crazy mad scientist whenever they do experiments.

Earlier today they all went to Hogle Zoo. We got a year membership to the Tracy Aviary, and they have some free days at the zoo for Aviary members.

Miles loved the penguins and they got to see the rare white alligator in the "Ghost of the Bayou" exhibit.

Ian had to hang out with the bronze gorilla (much safer than the fleshy kind) because the ape house was closed.

Everyone liked the big cats, and they got to see some new animal babies.

They tore out the old hippo house and they are going to put in a wild animal carousel (though technically it's a merry-go-round if it has animals other than horses) but I'm sure Saff will love it no matter what it's called.

Molecular marshmallows

Today was another hectic day at work for me. It's kind of depressing when you have to return 10 phone messages as soon as you walk in the door. But I've got some server projects that are interesting, so it's good to have something to keep me engaged and busy.

Melinda and the kids did a very tasty science project today. Melinda has been excited about the new chemistry curriculum she just got. The kids have been enjoying doing lots of fun science projects and experiments.


Saffron helped by enhancing the visual aids.

Many marevelous marshmallow molecules

I've always wondered what ethanol looks like.

Muchos tamales ricos

Tonight was our second annual Christmas tamale part with some of our homeschooling family friends.

Earlier, Wendy had 4 ski tickets for Park City that had to be used up, so James, Carrie, Bobby, and Clair went. We watched Clair's little girl, Makenna, so he could go. I didn't feel up to skiing and a big party all in the same day. So instead I cleaned up around the house a little, helped the kids with their homework, played with Saffron and Makenna, and then a took a nice long nap.

Makenna was very cute, and a cinch to babysit. She just wandered around and played with all the toys and read books. Here's a picture of James reading to her.

We took James with us to the tamale party. We got an assembly line going; someone to spread the masa on the corn husk, someone to put the filling in, and someone to tie them up. We had lots of yummy fillings too:

• Spicy pork
• Chicken with red mole
• Chicken with green mole
• Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes
• Southwest beans
• Cherry with chocolate chips
• Pumpkin pecan
• Cinnamon raisin

That's not to mention the tortilla soup, or the 4 different kind of salsas we had with chips. It was quite the fiesta of flavors! Tamales are a lot of work, so doing it together as a big group is ideal.

The kids had lots of fun, too. They ran around like creatures from "Where The Wild Things Are" for a while and then they played Lego Star Wars for a while. We were there quite late, so they kids were ready to sleep when we got home, exhausted from so much fun.

Nightschool

The kids spent most of their day having a Christmas party with some of their homeschool friends. So tonight I did the dishes while they did homework. Lisette wrote some poems, Miles did his online math, Ian practiced typing, and Saffron watched Winnie the Pooh to sharpen her hearing skills and color recognition.

Work has been pretty busy lately. We have been upgrading a lot of our systems, which is very good, but it keeps you hopping. This is what we have upgraded in the last 6 weeks:

1. Accounting software (Microsoft Dynamics GP)
2. Time keeping system (Stromberg Enterprise)
   
3. E-mail (Microsoft Exchange 2007)
4. Web server (Dell Server with MS IIS 6.0)
   
5. Internet service (an additional T1 line from First Digital)
6. Backup hardware and software (Symantec BackupExec and Quantum LTO2's)
   

And next month we will be finalizing the e-mail and getting a new phone system and fax server. I've had to do a lot of updates and reboots at night from home, so I'm very glad my work provides DSL for me. Now if only they could give me a couple of extra hours in the day...

Homework and cookies

Today Lisette spent the day with me at work. She needed a change of scenery to help get her groove back. I'm not sure which one of us had more fun, but the day sure went by fast for me.

She sat by me at my desk while I was on the phone and did her grammar workbook. She even came in with me to a meeting with my boss, who, was glad to have her there; she beautified the room appreciably.

After some typing instruction and some word games it was time for lunch. We went out to Paradise Bakery and Cafe and got a couple of sandwiches and cookies. I had a curry chicken salad with walnuts and cranberries on molasses bread. The sandwich was very good, but not spectacular. The cookies, however, were something to write home about. They tasted like courses of angels rejoicing hallelujah! Such charming chocolate chips and such snappy snickerdoodles! Those are truly cookies of excellence.

After lunch Lisette did lots on online math, and more word games while I made more phone calls and did various server tasks. Five o'clock rolled around and home we went. We should do this more often.

Toaster Pizza

Toaster Pizza
by Lisette

Once upon a time a penguin named Phil went to the North Pole to visit his friend Jerry the polar bear, who lived in a small igloo there. When Phil got there he said, "Jerry, let's get pizza!" 'So Phil and Jerry got frozen pizza.

Then Jerry said, "I forgot I don't have an oven!" So they thought and thought. Then Phil asked, "do you have a toaster?" They did have a toaster so they put the pizza in Jerry's toaster and ate toasted pizza.

The End

Saturday is a special day

Lisette's book club just finished reading Pippi Longstocking, so they had party last night where they made cookies and watched the movie at one of her friend's house. Miles made a quiz show game and played it with Ian and me. He had Harry Potter, famous places, famous landmarks and Star Wars trivia questions. Then after the kids were in bed, Melinda and I stayed up late reading.

Melinda got up early today to take Miles to his skateboarding lesson, but the rest of us slept in until 10:00. We were going to clean up the house, but no one felt like it so we all decided to have a school day instead. It was quite successful, too. Miles finished his novel, Tom Swift: Young Inventor - Into the Abyss, Ian read 12 easy reader books, and Lisette read 5 easy reader books in Spanish and did a lot of math. We really enjoy the flexibility of homeschooling; it works really well for us.

Saffron was very sweet this morning. She sat in my lap and kept bringing me new picture books to read as the other children did their homework. She looks so cherubic with her curly blond hair and her innocent, loving smile wearing only her diaper. Spending time with her and the other children this morning brings to mind what "joy and rejoicing in your posterity" means.