Old Mormon Fort Visit (Spring Break Day #2)

We had SUCH a fun morning playing at the Old Mormon Fort with friends today! What a cool place... I can't believe we haven't been there before!



We looked at some of the history and artifacts inside the visitors center, and then went outside to explore, run, play and jump in the forts and grounds!

There is a really neat natural spring that runs through... the kids all loved this! Josh was in heaven getting to toss rocks in it with no one stopping him... the boy loves to throw!




After awhile the kids got hungry, so we had a yummy picnic lunch together.




After lunch, we played some more before Josh got tired and cranky, and forced us to leave.







We had a fantastic morning! Thanks to our friends for letting us know about such a neat place... we so have to take Mike there!

50 Pennies (Spring Break Day #1)

I am all about natural consequences. So, my rule is that the kids can have their room messy, as long as there is a path clear to the bed.

However, they also get to "live" in that room. As in, they can't play in the living room when their room is a mess.

I'm so hoping that (in time) they will see that our home is a happier, more FUN place when it's clean.

My method usually works just fine.

It gets messy, they don't have room to play, they clean it, and then they tell me, "We love our room so much more when it's clean! It's so nice to play in now!"

It makes my heart go pitter-patter.

Over the weekend, a tornado or a tsunami or something happened.

And this resulted.



Ugh. Three kids in a small room on a Sunday is just a recipe for a mess.

My plan was to get the house CLEAN on the first day of spring break, and as much as I knew I should do the natural consequence thing, I couldn't.

SO.

I hid 50 pennies under all that mess.

And they had a blast looking for the pennies as they cleaned.

All morning I heard things like, "Mom give us a hint!"

Then I would say something like, "Try dusting your bookshelves."

Awesome.

They found the pennies, gave them back (because, hello!, I need my 50 cents), and we proceeded to have a fun day with a clean house.

A Fun Sunday!

Our Quarterly Scriptures Bookworms store opened during Sharing Time, and all of the kids had a blast choosing some fun rewards with the points they had earned.


Adam and Grace were over the moon with their little prizes (which weren't really anything special, but they had fun choosing them).

When we came home, we found some goodies on our porch from friends.


We spent the rest of the day playing quietly, writing letters to family, and reading the rest of On The Banks of Plum Creek (the 3rd Laura Ingalls book). I read 6 chapters to them, and man! My voice was gone by the end.

A simple, but really fun, Sunday.

Sunset Park

After the weather cooled down this evening, Mike and I took the kids to Sunset Park.

It's a really, really HUGE park, complete with a small lake, several playgrounds, and LOTS of trees for climbing and grass for running.

We fed the geese, did some of the fitness course, and played on the playground.




Josh always insists on going down the slide like this. Cracks me up.


Grace did her very first flip on the playground bar today after trying for awhile. Then she proceeded to do it over and over again. Watching her made my stomach hurt. I was so proud of her for trying hard and accomplishing her goal!

We had a really fun evening enjoying the weather and each other!

Things I LOVE This Week...

... nice weather for playing outside




... Trader Joe's (not only because, hello! it's Trader Joe's, but because my freezer gets filled with the day-old bread they donate to D.I.)


... my third getting in on the Star Wars fighting action


... my un-graceful little Grace who so loves being a ballerina


... the last filled reading chart of the year (holler for not having to keep track of these all month anymore!)


... a boy who collected 12 "Super Day" cards at school and redeemed them for a Mighty Bean (?) that he's been wanting forever


... a girl who has a crazy, new signature photo pose


... when they play restaurant


... his determination to go down the slide over and over again


... and his determination to get himself (and other objects) up the slide over and over again


... free donuts


... a movie night with homemade pizza and Tangled


Fun, fun week! I loved lots of things this week.

But, most of all, I love my family.

Afternoon Walks

After Adam gets home from school (yay!), and finishes his homework (blah!), we go on walks.

Adam rides his bike, Grace rides her bike, and I push Josh in the stroller (and try to keep track of the other two).



It's been a really fun way to get some exercise and spend time with each other while the weather is still nice.

She's Just Beautiful...

... on the outside AND the inside.

Priesthood Session

We had such a wonderful conference weekend! I can't wait to go back and read through the talks.

Conference weekend always has so many fun traditions for our family(conference games, cinnamon rolls, note-taking).

But, my favorite is one I stole from my best friend, Celeste, in high school. (Right, Celeste?)

Mike goes to Priesthood Session on Saturday night and takes careful notes. When he gets home, we have a special treat together and he tells us all about it.

I love it.

I love how Adam and Grace have started paying more attention to what he's saying. I love hearing all about it from Mike's perspective, and the things that stood out to him about our family. I love what a special time it is together.

It's a favorite family tradition that I hope we will continue; and someday I'm going to love hearing all about it from Adam, too.

April Fools!

I love April Fools Day! I'm so not into mean pranks, but I think it's fun to have a day to be silly.

This year, I decided to do what my aunt does and switch breakfast and dinner. I think that she does ice cream for breakfast (I think?), but I could NOT do that to Adam's teacher. ;)

So, I made sweet and sour meatballs for breakfast.

Guess how much they loved having veggies for breakfast?

Not.


For lunch, I decided to make it a little tricky for the day:


- the sandwich has a plastic bug in it
- the apple has a gummy worm in it
- the water bottle is filled with Sprite
- the potato chips are really Cheetos (I opened the bag on the bottom, switched them, and hot glued it shut)

The best part (for me) was that Adam HATES Cheetos, but loves potato chips. I gave him the Cheetos bag, filled with potato chips. His teacher told me how disappointed he was when he opened up his lunch and saw the Cheetos bag. He was hungry, so he opened them, and was SO surprised and ran up and showed her what it really was! He (and Grace) also loved the "water".

For dinner, we had breakfast... which isn't too unusual. ;)

It was a really fun day to be silly and have fun!

Sixth Project: Architecture

Adam's project this month was on "Architecture." He chose "Mount Rushmore" for his subject. He had a lot of fun researching and learning about Mt. Rushmore. He had even MORE fun sculpting Mt. Rushmore out of clay... he loves everything art! He did such a great job... isn't it cute?

Adam's projects are A LOT of work!

Each project has to :

- be researched and documented on a Bibliography card (with a minimum of two sources from different places... one from internet, one from an interview, one from a book, etc.)

- have 6-10 index cards filled with the presentation information in their own handwriting (they are supposed to be memorized, though they can reference the cards if needed)

- have a visual (no two visuals can be the same per year... for example, he can only do one statue, one poster, etc. per year)

- have a "Project Proposal", turned in several weeks ahead of time, outlining the project

- have a "Project Reflection" with thoughts on how the student completed the project, how the student felt about it, etc.

And then they have to be presented to the class.

Like I said, it's a lot of work.

He always does SUCH a good job on his projects, though!


Lucky for Adam, there is only 1 more to be done this year! The last will be done in-class in groups.

Lucky for me, too.

It's just so much more fun to play outside with them, then it is to be inside doing homework.

Tangled Date

Mike and I try to take each of the kids on a "date" each month. Just a little fun one-on-one time with each of them. It's a tradition that I hope continues on for a long time.

Grace and I went on saw Tangled at the dollar theatre today, while Mike stayed home with Josh.

It was such a cute movie! We laughed together, as she sat cuddled on my lap the whole time. She cried a few "happy tears" at the end. Too, too sweet.

Such a fun morning seeing a cute movie with my cute girl!

Spring at the Park

When we got back to Las Vegas, I was so happy to find out that it rained here, too (figures!), and that this had decreased the pollen levels.

My allergies are SO insanely bad here. My eyes swell shut, I can't breathe, and I stay locked in my house.

I'm not kidding.

My kids don't even KNOW what the sun is for a few weeks in March/early April.

However, with the pollen counts going down, we were able to get outside and spend some fun time with friends at the park.

I LOVE this time of year. It's too bad that flowers and trees usually ruin everything for me. ;)

We had a really fun afternoon playing, swinging, and sliding. We love spending time with good friends! It's good for the kids and good for me. Win-win!