Summer Vacation

The kids had their last day of school.  Well, last hour and a half anyway.  They each came up with their own idea for a gift to give their teacher.  Jr. made his teacher a card to go along with her favorite candy bars.  Nichole made her teacher a card and a volcano.  The volcano had a surprise inside the magma chamber.

The kids went to school with gifts from their teachers and came home with their own treats.  Nichole got to take home the rest of the chocolate milk from their last day of school classroom breakfast.  Jr. got a beach ball for his classmates to sign.

After school, I took the kids out bird watching.  Jeremy stayed home to be interviewed by The Daily Herald about the Wonders build.
Some of the birds we saw were seagulls, grebes, terns, yellow headed blackbirds, a snowy egret.  I saw some sort of game bird walking across a path and into the bushes.
There were a couple ducks walking around that were interested in the kids.  Nichole was sketching them and Jr. was taking pictures of  them.

When we got home from bird watching, the kids helped clean the living room.  Then they got to play video games and I was able to read them books before bed.

Amazing how much you can get done together in a day when the kids aren't in school as long.  We'll see what the Summer brings with the kids out of school every day.

It's Coming!

Aaaaaagh!  It's almost time for our crazy summer.
That explains the 30 umbrella bases Jeremy got from Ikea, plus the 5 more he got later since they had to restock.

It also explains the plethora of PVC he's been buying that he'll use for structure to keep the balloons up.

I didn't even get pictures of the boxes of balloons he's already had shipped.  For just the first two Wonders.
Thanksgiving Point has a schedule of which balloon wonders will be created which weeks.
The kids and I made a YouTube video advertising it.
Here comes our crazy summer.

Minecraft Treat

I wasn't feeling so well one day so I asked the kids if they could help me out and figure out something on their own for after-school snack.
This was Jr.'s creative idea.

He made a minecraft character out of candy.
The other kids enjoyed it and asked for it again another time.

Church Hunt

Trying to figure out how to keep my 4-year old calm during Sacrament Meeting.  Since last Sunday, May 24, was National Scavenger Hunt Day, I told him I would draw pictures of items for him to find.  When he found them he could circle them.  I figured that way I could still listen and he would have a quiet activity to do.
After a while, however, he decided he wanted to be the one to draw the pictures of items for me to find.  Sigh.  It didn't work as well.  I couldn't recognize all of his pictures and couldn't have him telling me out loud what they were.
Oh well.  At least we tried.

Grey Day

One thing to say about the weather we've had lately with all the rain and the gray skies.  It sure makes things more green, including the normally brown hills.
Great way to celebrate National Grey Day, May 26.

My Boys

Such sweethearts.  They all wanted to help with the pizza dough.

Beautiful Weather

The weather today was gorgeous.  It rained, it was cloudy, it was not too hot.  It was lovely.
I had to run some errands so I drove in the rain.  I can't describe what the rain was like, but it reminded me of home- where I grew up.  Those from my home town would know the feeling- the kind of rain that is relaxing, that makes things fresh, makes things grow.  Not very heavy rain, but just right.
This afternoon, the kids and I were able to go out to a park.  It felt so nice.  The cool air under the gray clouds.  It started sprinkling just as we were leaving to go home so the timing worked out well.
Ah, it was such beautiful weather today.

And Then There Are Those Times

I said recently that sometimes things are not that great (I don't get along with some kids while other kids are making messes).  Sometimes I feel like I just don't know how to parent.  What is wrong with me?
And then there are those times when I don't feel like a failure.  Tonight, for example.

Nichole had her "Utah" program at the school this evening.  Jeremy was working so I took the kids over by myself.  I didn't want to have to deal with the stroller so Lucky walked (and ran) with the rest of us.  He had a lot of fun with that.
To make a long story short, Nichole did a terrific job with the program and the boys did a great job watching the program.  And I was prepared.  I had bags of crackers in my pockets to hand to Lucky to snack on while he was sitting on a chair (Thanks, Jr., for opening them for Lucky).  When Lucky was done and dumped his crackers on the floor, Jr. picked them up and handed them to me.  I also had a toy car in my pocket to hand to Lucky when he started moving around.  This was all while I was filming the program on our camcorder so Jeremy could watch it later.
Jr. was a big help chasing Lucky and bringing him back when he did start to wander.  Jr. Jr. didn't go too crazy for a 4-year old, either.  Jr. also helped me by filming the end of the program when Lucky needed to be held by me.
It went well and I am so pleased.
And now I have this blog post to remind me that sometimes things do go well even if a few days before they don't.  YES! 

Nichole got to pick a county in Utah to do a report on.  She picked San Juan because we usually make an annual trip there.  She even mentioned in her report about her hat blowing off one time when we were at Arches National Park.

If I Were a Millionaire...

I could drink sparkling cider whenever I wanted.

May 19 is National Be a Millionaire Day.
Jeremy brought home a treat for me from one of his shows last week.  It was an "Avengers" cup.  Inside was a mini bottle of sparkling cider, a granola bar, and a bar of chocolate.  Yummm. 

Maybe I should save the bar of chocolate for tomorrow, Eliza Doolittle Day.

On a slightly related note, Jr. lost another tooth yesterday.  He found a dollar coin under his pillow this morning.  Jeremy pointed out only 999,999 more to go.

Volcano!

My first time making a baking soda and vinegar volcano.  Really.  We've done volcano cakes with our friend, Nessa, before, but this was the first time doing a volcano with vinegar and baking soda.
And a great day to do it since May 18 this year is the 35th Anniversary of Mount St. Helens blowing her top in 1980.

I made play-doh to go around a water bottle to make the volcano, poured some warm water and a little dishwashing liquid in it, added some baking soda, then poured colored vinegar in to make it erupt.
I got the idea from about.com.

I also served mashed potatoes with dinner so people could make their own mountains.
This is what Nichole came up with.

Ah, so much fun.  And it's funny but I didn't even think to put on the "erupting volcano cake of doom" video for us to watch this time.  I guess it was just too exciting watching our own erupting volcano.
Now Jeremy and I are going to watch "Joes versus the Volcano."

Look Familiar?

This time, Lucky was content to play without the water.

And he got them all to himself.

Let's Face It

You know?  My family is awesome.  Yes, it's true.  And we do a lot of neat things together.  Yes, we do.
But...
Let's face it.  Sometimes things are just not that great.
Today things were not that great.
One of my children and I did not get along very well.  That's a nice way of putting it.
After taking some time to cool off, I went to the kitchen to find that another of my children dumped cereal out all over the already messy kitchen.

Later on, another child decided to play in the cereal and spread it around even more.

I needed the motivation to clean the kitchen floor.  I got it.

I managed to throw away a lot of stuff that needed to be thrown away and I managed to sweep, but Lucky woke up before I had a chance to mop.  Oh well.  Save it for another day, I guess.
By the end of the day, though, the kids and I were getting along.  They even got to watch me play a computer game while we ate dinner in the living room since there was no room at the kitchen table.
Sigh.  Life.

The Campout That Wasn't

Jeremy was going to take the older boys to a father-son campout this weekend.  The weather looked like it was going to rain a lot so he convinced them to do something else instead.
So after we all ate hot dogs and chips like they would have done on the campout, Jeremy took Jr. and Jr. Jr. out to see a movie. 

While they were gone, Nichole and I got to have some bonding time and watch a movie together here.

Once the boys got back, we all had s'mores (heated in the microwave), which they would also have had at the campout.

Lucky helped himself.

The kids were happy with the bonding time and so were we parents.
And since this year today is also National Pizza Party Day, I made a pizza for Nichole, Lucky, and I to enjoy during the movie.

The KAT's Meow... From the Past

One of the boys (a year or two ago):  I can go so fast because I have flashcards.  So I can move like The Flash.

Tacos and Beyond

AND here we go again.  Look closely AND see if you can spot something out of place.  I've been passing this business for years AND it still makes me laugh.  I wonder how many people go in AND point out the mistake.  AND I wonder what they tell people when they point out the mistake.

Kite Day 2015

Kite Day, May 12.  For after school snack, we had kite sandwiches, then the kids and I headed out to a park.

It was beautiful weather- nice and windy.  We spent about two minutes flying our new dollar store kite before it broke.  None of the kids even got to fly it.  Sigh.
So the kids got to play on the playground before we headed home.
Hey, at least we still celebrated.

Screen Free Week 2015

I always take lots of pictures during but don't always get around to blogging about Screen Free Week.  This year I will blog.  Screen Free Week this year was May 4-10, and here are some of the things we did:
Argued
Fought
I had a couple wisdom teeth taken out so I read a lot while recovering- finished 4 books since I wasn't watching movies.
Celebrated Holidays
Star Wars Day and International Respect for Chickens Day were both on May the 4th.  The kids and I ran around Provo Canyon and had blue milk with dinner.

Cinco de Mayo was on the 5th of May.

Our wedding anniversary fell during the week so we had our traditional anniversary meal which is food we ate while we were on our honeymoon.

Mother's Day was yesterday.  Jeremy made omelets and bacon and toast.  Yumm.  The kids gave me sweet notes they made at school and church.

Just as the Berenstain Bears enjoyed watching the stars come out instead of TV, we watched a nature show of our own- a beautiful thunder storm with lightning and rain and awesomeness.

We ate brownies and some yummy Hungarian food.

Lucky helped with baking.

Lucky helped with breakfast.

Lucky helped clean his tray off when he was done eating.

There was music

"I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee."

and games.

Fort building

Creativity

We had some good family time and I made the kids medals that said, "You're a 'smartie' for spending time with your family."