Hike to the Grotto

After church today, Andy was determined to hike to the Grotto on the Nebo Loop. We saw a super cool fuzzy caterpillar at the start of the hike.

The leaves were changing colors. So beautiful! There were some small waterfalls as we headed to the big one.

When we got there, we waded in the water and got wet. We had so much fun!

Welcome to our Family Little Peter

Peter William Huff was born on June 26, 2010 at 4:31 am.

Joseph's "Wipe Shoes"

We went to the museum of Natural History while Danielle was at TTIX. When we got there we realized that we had forgotten Joseph's shoes. Now, for Joseph, it is unusual to wear shoes at all, but we were going to a museum and I thought, "Hmmm. We need two shoes and there are two wipes packages- Eureka!" Hence the "Wipe Shoes."

Easter

I was at the temple last week when I overheard a cute girl telling an elderly lady about all of her intricate Easter plans. The girl proceeded to say she has so many ideas and so much energy, it is too bad she doesn't have offspring. The older lady was gracious enough to hold her tongue but I desperately wanted to say, "You have so much energy BECAUSE you don't have any offspring."

This Easter week, I discovered that some people have week long celebrations with their families. I have done a Passover Seder in the past and this year as usual we had Mamie Ventche's delicious Bulgarian Easter dinner with three types of lamb. I don't really like lamb but her cooking is fantastic. I was so happy last night!

We also had boiled eggs that we smacked on each other. Andy almost won but Grandma Dorothy emerged as the true champion with not a blemish on her boiled egg.

Lucky for me, someone else had colored the eggs. I'm not sure what exactly I have against coloring Easter eggs, but I just never want to do it.

Easter baskets are always fun too. This year my sweet sister offered to put Easter baskets together for my kids which is good because I hadn't even thought of it yet. After she had offered to do the baskets for me, I found myself in a grocery store where people around me were frantically trying to put together their Easter baskets. I don't like shopping much. I am so thankful for my sister.

I do love egg hunts using plastic eggs. Our egg hunts usually last well into May when I finally can't stand the eggs laying around anymore. I also think the Easter Bunny is freaky.

This morning, because I felt like I hadn't done the Easter holiday justice, the kids and I read a book called My First Story of the First Easter then we watched The Lamb of God. The movie was pretty powerful. Joseph didn't want to watch anymore after the crown of thorns but Elsa wanted to see Jesus die. I stopped at that point and we talked about the fact that the whole point of this story is the resurrection. I can't remember if Easter Dream is a bit more positive in focus. I'll have to try harder to find it.

Elsa is very much into dead vs alive these days. Mamie Ventche talked to her last night about dying. Several weeks ago when we were at the Bean Science Museum, we had finally established the fact that all of the animals there are dead, they brought out a live turtle and Elsa was confused again.

I'm exploring my feelings about different Easter traditions because want to come up with my own family's Easter traditions.

Elsa's Evening Prayer

Heavenly Father, I love everybody and they love me. I have lots of toys at my house. My house is made of bricks. I don't like bad guys. I know that Jesus is alive.

Mommy Why Does My House Spin?

Elsa was spinning around in the living room and asked, "Mommy why do we spin and why does my house spin?"

Place Value and Artichokes

I felt like we needed to work on place values so I pulled out some math manipulatives and Skip- Bo cards. The kids loved it and learned their place values up to 1000. That was one of those few instances when I felt like a truly successful teacher. They had fun, learned efficiently and still remember.For lunch we had the most beautiful and delicious artichokes I have ever seen or tasted. Joseph and Elsa loved them too. They were both so cute sitting a bit far away from the bucket where we discarded leaves that had been eaten. Because of this they took turns tossing the leaves in the bucket and congratulating each other saying, "Good shot!"

drgargad

We Love School

We started the day by doing three lessons on Ancient China. First we learned about the Yellow River and how the silt it leaves after flooding is yellow and good for growing millet. Next,the Yangtze River which means long in Chinese. We also learned how silk is made and the legend of how it was discovered. Finally, we learned some Chinese characters for tree, forest, fire and mountain after which we watched a calligraphy demonstration.

In Chemistry, we learned about chemical reactions which reminded me of last weeks Chemistry Magic Show! At the show we were able to watch several types of reactions including change of state, change of color, change of temperature and best of all fire and explosions!

Lucky for us, Andy's brother, Ben sent us a link to http://periodicvideos.com/# It is the Periodic Table of Elements and when you click on an element, it shows you some experiments using that particular element. It is worth watching just to see the one scientist's crazy hair! :)

The evening brought a delicious Chinese dinner of pot stickers and rice. After dinner we watched a performance of the Tang Dancers and ate fortune cookie to end with something sweet.

Elsa's Bedtime

About a month ago my Elsa was trying to go to bed and was disturbed by her bed covers. "Mommy, my bed is Awful! Can you fix my covers? I have books in my bed."

She also sleeps with Crab (a red colored crab) and Lion who she will not go to sleep without. Even if she has gotten them in the covers and she knows it.

Science, Science and more Science

This morning was a difficult one due to pregnancy hormones. Somehow with Andy's help, I was able to pull myself together and start the day with a Chemistry lesson on Atoms and Molecules.

We used Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Pre-Level 1, Chapter 2 by Dr. R. W. Keller. After reading the chapter, we built molecules out of marshmallows and toothpicks. We build Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon. We made sure that our Hydrogen molecule only hooked to one atom, Oxygen only hooked to two atoms, Nitrogen only hooked to three atoms and Carbon to four. Joseph decided to go crazy and build a peptide chain. How does he come up with this stuff?

At the end, when I asked Elsa to tell me what molecules are made of she responded, marshmallows!"

Later we went to the Rock and Mineral show where we saw glowing minerals, bismuth, orthoceras fossils, ammonites, geodes being opened, and the all important rock candy.

Joseph bought a giant shark tooth and a tiny goldstone frog resting on a fiber optic glass lily pad.

Elsa bought her brother and herself a stick of rock candy. She also won a bag of seven rocks, minerals and fossils including selenium, petrified wood, a dinosaur bone, a Navajo tear, citrine cristal, turritella shell.

We came home and jumped on the trampoline since the weather was so nice. While Elsa headed to the sandbox, Joseph and I blew through a Planet Earth workbook titled, Animals of the Water. Who knew a humpback whale could live to be 135 years old.

Elsa came over and worked on a Winnie the Pooh colors and shapes book. She is just like her dad, the epitome of efficiency. At one point she had to color a carrot orange and the top green. She grabbed two crayons and colored both parts simultaneously.

I love how much the kids play together. I'm not saying they never fight but I do think they love each other. Joseph makes up games that Elsa loves to play. He entices her with "specials". Three "specials adds up to a "super special". He reminds me of myself. I used to have a whole system of favors and deeds for my younger brothers and sisters. A certain amount of favors equaled a deed.

Elsa took a very long bath this evening after heading to the bathroom sink to do some science experiments just like her brother. Her experimentation consisted of getting a bunch of soap in her hair and her clothes all wet. She and Joseph played store in the tub. He made her a fizzy soup mixture complete with duck, fish and magic fizzy powder. When she was ready to come out of the tub, Joseph offered to carry her out to which she responded, "no thanks, I can carry myself."

Joseph just choreographed a dance for Elsa while acompaning her on the piano. "Echappe open, echappe close, saute, now spin around, now do your arms. Ready, set, take a bow." How did he learn those ballet terms? This boy's brain is amazing.

Saint Patrick's Day Party

The kids and I were invited to a Saint Patrick's Day party kind of at the last minute today. I didn't have the time or desire to make a treat but I truly wanted to bring something to contribute to the party. As I was wondering aloud what to bring, Joseph said,"Easy Mom, just bring potato stampers." What a smart boy! I grabbed some potatoes, green paint, paper plates and a knife. I forgot the paper on which to create the art work but our hostess was gracious enough to provide some.

When we arrived at the party, I set to work on carving the potatoes into shamrock stamps. When I had finished two, I asked Joseph if they looked OK. He extremely diplomatically told me that he would rather I carved a heart next time. I almost said something dumb like it is Saint Patrick's Day, NOT Valentine's Day but he wanted a heart, this whole thing was his idea, so I carved a heart.


Later, Joseph explained that if you stamp the heart four times in a circle, it becomes a four leafed clover. Brilliant!

Ogre Mountain temple

Tonight, we drove past the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. When I pointed it out to Elsa, she asked if Ogres lived in there. You know, the Ogre temple.

Spider

The last few months I have been playing with Elsa with my hand as "Spider." He has a different voice and often if I revert to my normal voice she exclaims,"That is not you, Spider!" She has loved talking with my Spider. She loves squashing my Spider and then kissing it. She loves to hold me and then throw me up into the air. Sometimes I get stuck up there and she has to pull on me to get unstuck from the air.

She also loves to put Spider on her head to walk around and then (looking very sneaky) turn her head so I fall off. Elsa will pick me up and give me a kiss which will always either bring him back to life or make Spider very happy and jump all over the place.

She is very cute when Spider crawls up her arm and onto her shoulder on the way to her head. She is so squirmy! Sometimes Spider will crawl towards her feet and she will laugh and try to get Spider off.

One time she was upset and would not speak to Daddy or to Mommy. When Spider came around she held my hand and then Spider and Elsa were friends. Mommy and Daddy were still not welcome though.

Andy was reading scriptures when Joseph asked, "Mama, is this really all in English?"

Elsa spent the whole time telling me to be quiet so she could listen.

Underground Habitats

We are learning about underground habitats. When I asked the kids to draw an underground habitat, Elsa drew a donkey under the ground. I think she missed something somewhere. She is only two.

Joseph's underground habitat was fantastic! He drew John Muir holding a magnifying glass standing above an underground habitat that included ants, prairie dogs and a mole. I think Joseph got the lesson.

Scriptures

Andy was reading the scriptures this evening when Joseph asked me, "Mama, is this really all in English?"

Elsa spent the whole time telling me to be quiet so she could listen.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Joseph personally put all of the plates, glasses, etc and then made cool designs on the table.
Elsa played Happy Birthday with this candle which we lit and then sang Happy Valentines Day to You and then she blew them out and then would ask us to light another candle.
Joseph and Elsa sitting down to watch the fireworks.
A flower firework.

Happy Chinese New Year! It is also Valentines day and most especially, our anniversary.

Celery Experiment

We were learning about plants in science and we decided to create blue celery. It worked!

Elsa riding Daddy

The following is Elsa dictating the caption for this picture. "I like Daddy taking me on a ride when I say giddy up giddy up. He let me be on top of him to decorate him. I love decorating Daddy. I love taking rides on Daddy because he loves me so much."

Family Home Evening and Prayers

This evening we talked about sharing in our Family Home Evening. Joseph came up with a game where he wrapped jewels in layers of foil. We listened to a Valentine's Day song which when it stopped, the person holding the gift got to open that layer and keep the gift. What a sweet boy to have such a great idea!

Elsa insisted on saying both the opening and closing prayers as usual. The highlight of these prayers is that she promised Heavenly Father two cakes because she loves Him.

Monday Night Trip to Egypt

Elsa's World

I love this age. It is so fun that she can talk so I can have glimpses of her world. Here are just a few.

Elsa grabbed her brother's drink and ran over to me explaining that she wanted some. She proceeded to tell me I am the guy in charge. I guess I am in charge of fair drink distribution in her mind.

I made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch to which she exclaimed, "Mmmmmm, Mommy, I love toasty cheese sandwich".

Later, she brought me an orange saying, "I can't peel it but your claws are big enough to peel it". I do need to clip my nails.

Last night, as she came out of the bath she explained, "I can't brush my teeth, I'm too naked."

Electronic Music

Cross Talk electronic music concert was interesting. I'm glad I experienced it. Extremely dissonant. Did I like it? I don't know, what is "like" anyway? Are we trained to like certain things?

What I liked best about the concert as that it made me think. The piece that spoke to me most was the only one composed by a female. Hmmm. I love that it was a great conversation starter for our date.

The Parthenon

In school this morning we have been learning about Athens. We watched a film on the building of the Parthenon and the kids built their own versions of the Parthenon out of Play Dough.

Family Life

We went to Jumping Jacks again today. Yesterday was fun but I think today may have been even more of a blast! There is nothing like hanging out with the boys in boys club. Bryce, Alex and Nathan are such quality boys. I am so glad we get to spend time with them.

Joseph made friends with a girl after fighting with her for about ten minutes. As we were leaving, he asked if I would get her phone number.

After Jumping Jacks, we went to Arctic Circle for some ice cream. I was freezing but the kids were hot from jumping. I should get up and jump with them. Maybe after the baby comes I will.

In the bathtub this evening, Elsa discovered that she can jump swim. This is achieved by laying on her stomach and pushing off the side of the tub with her legs so it launches her forward. She ducked her head in the water and once again explained that it wasn't so bad. This time she didn't congratulate herself. It sure is cute when she does.

Elsa is wrapped in a towel saying, "I am a package." Joseph who is dying to have her explore his Lego ship keeps asking her if he can unwrap the head of the package. Cute kids. They really do need to go to bed.

She is a bit of a tattletale. She just came to me and asked me to tell JoJo that his bed is for sharing.

Andy just got back from his voice lesson. I love how happy he is when he comes home. I think he has made it his mission to help me sing better. Good Luck to him.

Elsa's Family Home Evening Prayer

This evening in Family Home Evening, Elsa prayed, "Hevenly Father, we're thankful that bad guys don't kill us because that is really nice."

Joseph's Cupcakes

Sweet Joseph decided to make cupcakes for Jetta Cloward and the families that Andy home teaches. The bottom right cupcake is a guy diving into a swimming pool. I love Joseph's creations.