Spring Break

We spent most of our spring break just hanging out at home. The weather was cold--it even snowed at the beginning of the week.
We did a few "fun" activities--like education worksheets. Here's Pyper's work. I told her the number on the left told her how many objects to circle. Then I told her what each number was, and she started circling on her own. I was pretty impressed.

And here's the back of the worksheet. I thought it was interesting that she circled each object one at a time, except for number ten. She did them all together. Kind of interesting . . .

We pay the girls a penny a dandelion, so when they are bored, they go out and pick dandelions for us. Pyper actually initiated it this day, and Basil noticed. She came into the kitchen, opened the dishwasher, got out a bowl, then went out and began picking. I'm not sure why Claire is still in her jammies--or why she's wearing her ear muffs (that she slept in!).

By Thursday, I knew we needed to get out and do something.

So Rhett worked a half day on Friday, we packed a cooler with food and goodies, and headed on the road. One of my favorite books is about a girl traveling across the country on a road trip with her grandparents to get to Lewiston, Idaho. So it's been on my bucket list to visit there someday. Well, Rhett knew that, and since it's only about two hours away, he suggested we go. I thought it was going to be some podunk little town, but surprisingly, it was beautiful--and we really enjoyed it! We found a couple parks to play at, ate our picnic, and explored the city a little.

 There is a tiny white dot on the path far ahead of Rhett. That's Pyper.

Watching the fish jump

The girls have a Fancy Nancy book about Sacajawea, so we went to see the Sacajawea monument.

 Everyone looks a little rough. We'd just been playing on toys at the park.

While there, we noticed a girl tap dancing in a dome shelter-type thing. Pyper had been carrying around this camera pretending to take pictures (the battery was dead). When she saw the girl dancing, she ran clear across the way to the girl, held it up as if she was videoing the girl, then ran back to us. It was quite funny. We made our way over to the dancing girl and asked her to do some steps for us. The girls enjoyed it. Pyper "videoed" it again.

We found some huge trees and tried climbing them.

And I got some close ups of the girls' faces. I try to do this every so often to capture what they look like now--and to see how much they've grown and changed from the last time.

Basil--chewing on a pistachio

We got home pretty late that night, but we had so much fun. It was totally worth it, and we look forward to another trip like this hopefully soon.

Lastly, the girls got new dresses. Not really for Easter, since we didn't even go to church on Easter Sunday, but I felt like it was time to get them new dresses. We've really been blessed in benefiting from generous neighbors and family who "donate" clothes to us. So I've never really had to buy clothes for the girls. But I wanted to get them something special. 

Stories

Just some things to record so I don't forget . . .

The other night, Claire was talking, and she said, "Remember that story when Jesus healed the tigers?"
I actually couldn't. So I asked for clarification. "He healed tigers?"
"Yes," she said, "The ten tigers."
"Oh . . . " I said. "You mean the ten lepers?"
"Oh yeah. The ten leopards."

*  *  *

I went to the library on Tuesday to do story time with Basil and check out some more books for Summer to read. Story time was fun, and as we were browsing the books, I caught the children's librarian and asked her how to tell what reading level the books were. I was hoping to find something a little more challenging for Summer. I said that Summer was a first grader, and she led me to a section of easy readers. I showed her the book I had in my hands (which was beyond an easy reader) and the librarian looked at me a little puzzled. "That book is a third grade reading level. Going any higher would take you to the fourth and fifth grade level." My eyes about popped out. Then her eyes about popped out when I responded, "She read about ten of these over the weekend." And I was not exaggerating!

* * *

The girls have been playing "horsie" lately, galloping around and riding each others backs. Well, Basil finally figured out how to gallop. It's a floppy, hip-sway gallop, but she can do it. And she loves it. Everywhere she goes, she gallops. Into her room. Out of her room. Into the kitchen. Out of the kitchen. Over to me. I love it.

* * *

When Claire and Pyper were just learning how to talk, they would call Summer, "Nummer." (Pyper actually still says it that way!) Well now that Basil is saying everyone's names, it's actually interesting that she doesn't say Nummer. She calls her "Summy." So sweet!

* * *

Claire in her prayers: "Please help everyone else to be wrong and me to always be right."

* * *

Pyper was coloring a picture with Rhett sitting next to her. This was their conversation:
Rhett "Is that a bear driving a car?"
Pyper "Yes."
Rhett, matter of factly, "Well, that's not very safe, is it?"
Pyper "Yes it is. He's buckled."
Rhett "But bears don't drive cars."
Pip "Why not? He's got an arm and a hand."

* * *

The other night, I was tucking Claire in and I said, "Claire, thanks for all your help today. It really makes things easier for me, and I appreciate it." She responded, "Thanks, mom. I appreciate you being my mom." :)

* * *

Pyper, while painting, "I love dark white."

* * *

I pulled a lemon out of the fridge the other night, and Basil asked, "Apple?" I said, "No, it's a lemon." She responded, "Oh. Lemon. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen."

Birthday Time

Rhett and the girls went all out for my birthday this year. 

First of all, about a month ago, Claire and I were in Fred Meyer's browsing their pots and planters. I was looking for something that would fit along the window by my sink where I could plant herbs and spices. But as we were strolling the isle, Claire said, "I know what I'm going to get you for your birthday!"

Well, the morning of my birthday came (Monday), and Claire needed me to take her to the store. We had it all figured out that I would close my eyes and she would get "the present" and then tell me the numbers so I would know how much to pay. Then she said, "I hope it's not two hundred and fifty dollars!" I said "I hope so too!" 

But Rhett, Pyper, and Claire were ready for school a little early, so he ended up taking them and Claire picked it out. They also picked out two packs of gum for me.

Summer wanted to take me to the store to pick out which cake mix and frosting I wanted, so while the others were gone, Summer, Basil and I ran to the store before first grade started, and I picked out my cake. On the way to the checkout stand, I saw Summer swipe two little packs of jelly beans (she knows I love jelly beans) and hide them in the cart. When we got home, she wrapped them up for me.

When I arrived at Claire's school to pick her up, she had two surprises for me:

One--a card she had made for me during free time.

And Two--this:

I loved it!

When everyone got home from school, we worked on making the cake. After it was cool, the girls frosted it.

(Rhett bought party hats and made everyone wear them.)

Summer wanted to write "Mom's Cake" on it, so she started with the M, but it was more difficult to squeeze the frosting out than she thought, so Rhett finished it.

The pot. Isn't it beautiful? I love it!

After dinner, everyone sang to me, I blew out the candles, we ate cake, and I opened my gifts. (I even got birthday packages from my sisters!) It was such a special day--especially to see everyone work together to make it a happy day for me. I loved it.

And no, Rhett didn't forget to get me anything. He gave me an amazing gift and sent me to a conference I was wanting to go to. It was the weekend before my birthday, and I was gone from Friday to Sunday. He took care of the girls while I ate out, went to awesome classes, and learned some amazing things. I had a great time and got to come home to celebrate my birthday with happy kids who had missed me!

And thank you all who sent birthday wishes my way! It was a wonderful day!

Because I haven't posted pictures in a while:

Just a bunch of pictures--and some attempted group selfies.

(Claire, Pyper, and Basil)

(She jumped in with her clothes on thinking it would be more fun than it really was.)

Christmas Film Excuses

It seems that there are glitches every year I try to do our family film. This year, the newest version of the movie maker I use won't allow me to upload it onto our blog. I can, however, post it on youtube, which I don't really want to do. But I think that might end up being our route if I can't figure out any other way. 

If it's posted on youtube, it will be a private video only available to those I send an email to, so if you are interested, send me an email (either through the comments or to my email), and I'll stick you on the list.

I am definitely late in getting around to finishing it up. My goal in years past has been to have it completed and posted on Christmas Eve. However, that lent to me being stressed out and spending my Christmas Eve day in front of the computer, away from the celebrations with my family. So this year, I didn't put a deadline on it. My goal was just to get it done and enjoy the holidays as well. And I did.

And now, as I try to post it, I find myself sidetracked by my obsessive hobbies. Like family history. I'm finding all sorts of cool stuff. Like, my maiden name would have actually been Calef but an ancestor, nine generations back, was given his mother's maiden name because she and the father (Calef) were never married. 

I also found one of my ancestors who came from England during the 1630's and when he arrived in New England, he signed as a Freeman and was part of the breaking away of England!

Then there was an ancestor thirteen generations back who accused another woman of bewitching her and suing her in court for being a witch. I even found a summary of the court record!

And this is only after researching ONE line! Do you see why I'm addicted??? These stories are so fascinating. I'm tempted to write a book about them!

John Courtland Searle

Born in 1828. One of the pioneers who crossed the United States from Michigan to settle in Payson, UT as one of the first settlers there. Their daughter was the first white baby born in the area.

Gymnastics Camp and Art Class

Last week, Summer came home with a flyer for a gymnastics camp. The camp was scheduled for Monday morning (Martin Luther King day) from 9-10. Since the monkey bars have come with such ease for Summer, I thought I'd sign her up and see if she liked it.

We showed up Monday morning and registered her. Then people started coming. And coming. And coming! I would say there was about 70 kids there. And only about ten chairs set up for parents. I was glad I'd gotten there early because I got a chair on the front row! 

Anyway, they broke the kids up into age groups (it was ages 3-7), and then rotated to each technique. Summer started on the beam, then did the vault, the floor, and then the bars. (She's the one in the pink shirt and black leggings.)

A lot of the pictures I took ended up blurry, so I only got ones of her on the beam and bars.

She had a great time, and I think we will look into an 8 week summer class for her at Spokane Gymnastics.

But poor Claire. She was heartbroken I wouldn't let her go too. Summer has a natural athleticism about her. Claire--not too much. On the other hand, Claire is doing really well with art, so I signed her up for an art class. Last night was her first class. They learned about Japanese painting. Here's Claire's masterpiece:

As we were driving home, she said, "Mom, the leaf going off into the sunset is my best one yet."

More "The Things They Say"

Pyper: "Mom, is it nighttime today or tomorrow?"

***

Claire: "What if we are really in a dream?"

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Pyper: "Pretty soon, I'm going to have a squeaky tooth too." (loose tooth)

***

Summer: (after falling and cutting her lip with her tooth) crying, "Now I can't make weird faces!"