Bunting Hunting

And then there are those days where you have so much going on in just one day.  Yesterday was one of those days.
Yesterday morning we took the kids to the Orem Library's Teddy Bear Picnic which kicks off the Summer Reading Program.  It was fun... as usual.  Again the kids LOVED the puppet show portion.  They enjoyed the rest of the show as well.

This year's theme for the reading program is "Make it Work," and the Teddy Bear Picnic had a S.T.E.A.M. Punk theme.  S.T.E.A.M.= Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.

Of course I got pictures of the kids in front of the balloon robot Jeremy built.  It took a while to get the kids to all smile and look at the camera.  I'd think I'd get a good picture then look at it to realize that one child was looking in a different direction or one was making a goofy face or I was concentrating so much on the kids I cut off part of the robot's head.  Sigh.  But I finally got one.

After the Teddy Bear Picnic, we headed up to a park in Murray where we were told there was an indigo bunting hanging out.  Several people saw it the day before and were able to tell us where to find it.  Good thing because that park is huge.  The boys were more excited to get wet by the sprinklers but Nichole helped us finally spot the bird.  We kept hearing it and would get glimpses of it and finally we were able to get some pictures.  Hey, two life birds which are blue in two days?  Not bad.

Lucky: How dare you, sprinklers.  How dare you.

We had snacks at the Teddy Bear Picnic and ate lunch on the way home from "bunting hunting" so we didn't hear a lot of complaining about being hungry.  That's good.
When we got home, I couldn't help it, I fell asleep for a while before taking Nichole to activity days... sort of.  One of the leaders just got released so the other one forgot to give a reminder to the girls.  Oh well.  So the leader was sweet and gave Nichole and I each a popsicle when no other girls showed up and we went back home.
Then we had dinner and it was time for Mommy-Daughter Date.  The boys watched a movie in their room while Nichole and I watched a movie in the living room and ate snacks.  Good time together.  We had ice cream and popcorn and Nichole had gummy bears.

So it was a busy busy day, very full. 

The Last Few Days

What have we been up to the last few days?  Well...
We've had some fun.
Building towers is fun, isn't it?

Acting like hams at dinner is also fun, right?

Having a friend over for some girl time to watch a movie while Jeremy takes the boys out to a playground is fun, too.

Getting to finally celebrate our anniversary by going on a relaxing picnic together while the kids are visiting friends is fun.

It's also fun before our picnic to meet up with some birding friends to see some owls- baby owls.

 Jeremy had fun earlier on by getting to see the owlets close up.

It's fun to spend extra time with friends when we go to pick up the kids- talking, playing games, looking at chickens.

It's definitely fun to finally finally find my nemesis bird, the bird I have gone out to see so many times and haven't yet seen- the blue grosbeak.  There were several to see when I went out to look this time.

Yeah, we've been having fun.

Repeat Day 2017

Pete and Repeat were in a boat.  Pete fell out.  Who was left?
Repeat.
Pete and Repeat were in a boat.  Pete fell out.  Who was left?
Repeat.
Pete and Repeat were in a boat.  Pete fell out.  Who was left?
Repeat.
Pete and Repeat...

It's amazing how many times our children will answer, "Repeat," and we just keep going and going and going with this.
Well, June 3 is Repeat Day.  For scripture study tonight, Jeremy asked the kids several times if they were ready for family prayer and scripture study.  Once they were and we had our prayer, Jeremy shared a scripture and thought and all the kids repeated it after him.  They enjoyed that.  A good way to learn is by repeating something.

In other news on this third day of June, Jeremy finished some sculptures for the Orem Library's Summer Reading Program.  So if you go to the library next week, they will be on display and you can see them in person.  The theme for the Summer Reading Program is "Make it Work," and the kickoff event, their teddy bear picnic, has a steampunk theme.  Jeremy built a 12 foot tall robot with accompanying inventor.

When he finished he was able to come to a neighborhood BBQ which the kids and I were already at.

 

So that's how Repeat Day went for us this year.  I'm not going to repeat it all, but you can re-read it if you want.

Flip a Coin Day 2017

Jeremy:  Never flip a coin in a moving car.  Words to live by.

June 1 is Flip a Coin Day.
We went out as a family and decided what to do while we were out based on the flip of a coin.  First stop- credit union.  We flipped to decide whether Jeremy would go in by himself or the whole family would go in.  Flip.  The whole family went in.  Since the kids were well-behaved, they got suckers.  Lucky kids.

Back in the van- go birding or go to a playground?  Flip.  Go birding. 
Kids:  If we're going birding, can we watch a movie?
Flip.
Mom:  Yes, you can.

So I put in "Singin' in the Rain."  A little while later-
Nichole:  Did you choose this movie because of the guy flipping the coin?
Mom:  Yes, I did.

After we got better pictures of a savannah sparrow than we had, we flipped the coin again to decide between birding or going to a playground. 

Birding again. 

I just love how you can really see the "horns" on this horned lark.

The kids started complaining about being hungry so we flipped to decide to get fast food or not for in the van.  Fast food, it was.
The kids ate while watching the movie for the second time and Jeremy and I ate while birding.
Next, birding or playground?  Flip.  Birding.  Sigh.  Jeremy and I decided to be nice so we chose a birding spot with a playground.  The main birding spot in the park was under construction so we stuck mostly to the playground.  When we got there we decided we'd stay for about half an hour.  We stayed for more than an hour.  It was fun.  There was wind, there was rain, there was fun.

 

Aaaaaaah!  It's so windy!

Then we went home.
The End.

What Have We Been Up To?

What have we been up to?
The kids finished up school for the year.  We went to their end of the year dance festival.  They all did great.

 Lucky got into it as well.

These pictures are before and after school on the last day of school.  There are pictures of the older kids on the first day of school on my post from August 24, 2016.  A picture of Jr. Jr. on his first day of school is on my post from September 6, 2016.

We celebrated my birthday.  Jeremy even sent me out for some alone time on my birthday while he worked on dinner.  I went to a park, sat down to read a book and eat my lunch and got to talk to my mom on the phone.  It was relaxing to have quiet time in the shade while listening to the birds around.

 

Happy Birthday to You! or Me!

Since school's been out, we've had family time at home.

We've had family time out.

Yesterday, we went up to Big Springs to have a BBQ.  We all had a good time.

The kids found a caterpillar.

At one point, the caterpillar moved off to somewhere else.  This is what I heard from the kids:
Nichole:  Jr., your caterpillar has flown the coop.
Jr.:  It's not my caterpillar.  It's nature's.

Well, we enjoyed our nature time.  We tried out something a friend suggested for camping.  S'mores in a waffle cone.  You take chocolate chips and mini marshmallows, stuff them in a wafflecone, wrap it in foil, and put it on the fire or on the grill or whatever.  Some of us had peanuts/peanut butter in ours.  Yumm.  Warms it up nicely.

The kids enjoyed getting to play with outside activities as well.  We got a new frisbee.  It can light up so we'll have to go out sometime while it's getting dark to try out that function.

When we got to Big Springs it was a little windy so that made playing with bubbles fun.  The kids didn't have to blow them.  They just had to pull the wand out of the container and the wind took care of the rest.

And of course there were plenty of birds to listen to.  Gorgeous.  And sometimes they even let us see them and get pictures.

 
The robins certainly let us take pictures.

Before we left home, Jr. Jr. brought me a present he forgot to give me on Mother's Day.  A necklace he made at school.  What a sweetheart.

Wow.  We've been busy.
So now you know why I'm too exhausted to blog so often.  We're too busy doing.