mikentash: February (25)

Using our Douch Oven. Michael made some sort of yummy cake of sorts.

All of these pictures with the kids and their artwork was from our watercolor competition. Everyone picked their favorites that they had done and we voted on our favorites to earn different water color sets.

I decided to do art with calk in our animal class. We were learning about turtles so we each drew one...some drew land tortoises and others sea turtles.

One day the kids decided to make bow and arrows. I was amazed at how well some of them worked. It was fun to see them walking around with them and trying to shoot them.

Diamond art during preschool one day. These diamonds were a little bit larger then ones we had done in the past. It was a fun craft because everyone became so absorbed in what they were doing and they could all do it on their own.

Above is playing at preschool during the beginning. Below is our temple day where I got to stay home with the younger kids and do art while the older boys went with friends to the temple.

Above is us doing the guessing jar of how many rocks. It was Maebryn's turn to put them on the hundred number chart. Below is my bench and garden, Maebryn and I had sat and visited and shared an orange on it earlier in the day and I just wanted to take a picture of it afterwards to remember the sweet memory.

These boys are always making different lego creations. It is amazing to me all of the things they make. I believe that this was one of the many zoo's that they created.

Sunday afternoons we almost always go up and watch the Chosen together or sometimes a church history show. It is a special time to sit and watch a movie together. Below is a picture I caught of the girls one afternoon. We had a thick spot of Rye grass that had grown quite long. It was fun to see them sitting in the middle of it playing.

Calvin has wanted to do track but we couldn't figure out our schedule to get him to track so we decided we could set up our own running plan. It was fun because the first day the kids all went out to cheer him on with metals and seats and everything. It was cute how much support they have for their siblings.

One day Maebryn asked to clean out my drawer in my bathroom...I originally thought this could make a big mess but pushed it aside and said yes you can do that Maebryn. I was amazed at the outcome because the drawer was very well thought out and organized well. She had taken everything out and then put everything back in that made sense to be in there then asked me where to put the things that didn't. What amazed me the most was when I came back and she was showing me how everything was organized she took me to my shower...I was very confused why she was so insistent to show me the shower but she showed me how she put my brush in a spot there. I had never thought of this but I do always go out of the shower grab my brush and then go back in the shower to brush my hair...and I rarely brush my hair if I haven't just showered. It made complete sense and that she had noticed that I did that and figured out a more efficient way impressed me quite a bit. She is my sweet little organizer.

Both above and below are co-op classes. Above is Maebryn doing a puzzle and playing with her preschool class. I am glad that I get to sit in on one of her classes this semester, she has done much better about going to preschool this year. Below was the day that we learned about lizards, we got one of those little wooden toy lizards to paint as we talked about lizards that day.

Snow, I am still working on some things with the pond, but I took this picture one morning because there were a bunch of birds. I don't think you can really see them well in these pictures but it was neat to go outside and hear and see all of the birds.

Roslyn got this dollhouse for Christmas. (It was actually something one of my good friends from the ward gave me quite a while ago but I thought Roslyn was old enough to work on it now, so I gave it to her for Christmas.) It ended up being more work than I thought but it was a neat experience to make every little piece of furniture, the pillows, the curtains, ect. In some ways it was very simple but it is just that the pieces were so very small, it made it a little tricky at times. You can see from the picture with the girls in it that their hands are larger then any one piece and they both have small hands. It was a fun project to work on together.

This was Valentines Day. This was a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Michael had gotten me. He was the one that suggested that we get a picture together with the flowers. I was glad that he did because months later...just about a month ago from when I am writing this, we were passing a local flower place and he said that is where he got my flowers. I had assumed that he walked into the grocery store and found something but it was neat to hear that he special ordered them from a neighboring little small business and then picked them up for me from there. He is often very thoughtful.

I wanted to capture our Sunday morning breakfast. I really do enjoy them, it is the one day in the week that we eat cold cereal, which the kids love. We then watch Music and the Spoken word as we do, it is now a tradition that we have done for years and I love it!

Another tradition that we have done off and on is to watch something together on Sunday evenings. A long time ago it was family home videos that we had made, now it is usually the Chosen or a Church history movie. Below is just a picture of my cute little ones having some herbal tea.

Above was a walk to see the ponies, the girls love to feed them grass, they seem to enjoy it as well. Below is our Valentines Day morning buckets. This has become a fun little Valentine's Day tradition. It is just some fun little snacks, a card from me, and tokens. (I got these little tokens a long time ago at the dollar store that say free hugs, kiss, love you, ect. I always give them to them each Valentine's then I get all my free hugs and kisses from them...it always makes them laugh and I love it.)

One afternoon these four were in the other room and had made up some new sort of game and were laughing and having fun together. I love when I see them all come up with games that includes everyone in the family. They often will do this on the trampoline with all six of them, it always just makes my heart happy to see all of them playing together, those moments almost seem magical.

Above is one of the books Roslyn and I have been reading together. She really has become quite a good reader, I love getting a few minutes to sit down and just read with her. Below is the jungle Benson and Evan made in their room. (I am glad I snapped this picture because they had this all cleaned up the next day.) They had colored pictures and tapped them up on the wall...you can see the dresser in the background is a big tree...they colored green for the branches and brown for the trunk. The other wall was similar, they then had hung their stuffed animals in those tree branches, or placed them strategically on the ground in the "jungle". There were some animals hanging on the doors in the room or other high places. It was neat to see how they transformed their room into a jungle. It looked like it was a good amount of work but then was all cleaned up the next day. They will often do this with lego creations. They will make a huge zoo or apartment building with lots of details then will break it down to do something else with in the future. I am often the one saying..."but wasn't that a lot of work". I've been trying to be better about getting pictures of some of these things so we can remember them.

Above is my sewing little girls. One of the moms of one of my students often comes and knits or croquets during her daughters lesson. My girls will often go get their "sewing" things to do along side her. Maebryn is sewing the letter Y we did in preschool and Roslyn is working on her second latch hook pillow of owls. Below is Benson cooking in the kitchen. We have gotten in a good routine where everyone has a dinner night, if they make a three course meal they get extra game time or minutes. It has been neat to see the kids getting more into everything they make.

This was a special present from the Primary. The kids have all been doing no sugar this year and the primary has been super sweet about always making sure that they have something special when treats are handed out. This time the girls got these puddle noodles, it was fun for them. They are being spoiled.

This was a Saturday that I tried extra hard to have our home ready for the Sabbath day. It felt so nice to have everything so clean in preparation for the Sabbath...I need to try better about making this a regular thing. I often get close, really it wouldn't take long to do the last extra push to get it Sabbath ready.

These girls had been in their room for a long time one morning so I went to go check on them. When I asked them what they were doing they said, "We're playing the cleaning game" Which in deed they were, there room was a mess earlier in the day but when I came to check on them their room looked like this, almost all clean.

Below is a picture of our door, the sister missionaries heart attacked us. It was really sweet of them. I really don't feel like we have done that much for them but they said how grateful they were for the help we have given them. It was definitely a fun surprise.

A few weeks into the semester the teacher that was doing nature study had to leave because of a child's illness. I got to step in as the new teacher. It was one of the first semesters in a long time where I was just teaching one class, land animals, I was excited to do another and to have it be nature study, a class I love. We ended up making fairy garden houses and adding to them each week as we learned about different things in nature. My schedule this semester was land animals, preschool with Maebryn and then nature study. It was a perfect little schedule for me.

Below is the boys braving the cold pool in February. It was a particularly warm day but still the pool was cold so it was a sort swim but I think the kids enjoyed jumping in for a minute.