End of the school year programs

Since school has been out for almost a month now, I figured I better get to writing about the kids' end of the year programs. They all seemed to enjoy school and had excellent report cards. We are very proud of each one of our kids. Youngest to oldest:

Daniel was in preschool this year and liked it most of the time. He had his days when he didn't want to go and threw temper tantrums. I usually didn't push it. It was his last year at home with me and I was glad to keep him home from time to time.  I really didn't want to sign Daniel up for preschool in the first place. Scott thought it would be good for him since he has a late birthday and missed the cut off for Kindergarten. When he threw these temper tantrums it usually meant he was extra tired or fighting something so it was best to keep him home anyway. Daniel played Little Kickers Soccer in the Fall.

They had a cute preschool graduation held at the Library outdoor stage. His teacher, Miss Patti, has two sessions and they combined them for the graduation.

Posing for the picture.

Patiently waiting for the program to start.

All the kids had a part or (several) I love how Daniel

is looking down at his rectangle shape.

Posing with friends Mackell and Jackson. They live around

the corner, so Daniel gets to see them often.

Jacob, (4th grade) posing with Mrs. Hulet. She had nothing

but praises to sing about him. He has a knack for 

helping other kids with their work. With a stellar 

report card of all "E's" we are very proud of him too.
Jacob played Flag Football, Basketball, and now
Baseball.

Ryan (6th grade) with Miss Parrish. Ryan 

is sooooo smart and a math wiz. All E's with major 

subjects. A bit rebellious, Ryan just needs to work on 

in class group work (cooperating) and turning things in:) 

We're confident he will do great in 7th grade next year!
  Ryan played Flag Football, Basketball,
and now Baseball.

Laura (8th grade) in her end of the year orchestra

concert. She loves the violin. She's passionate about it 

and is doing great with her private lessons too. 

Laura had a great year with Drama, music, 

and academics.  4.0 :)
Laura played Fall Soccer, Basketball, and now
Softball and Swim Team.

Heather (10th grade) For as shy as Heather is she 

was involved in concert band, pep band, and a wildlife 

and nature photography club. Making friends in all 

three and being "forced" to go to football and basketball

games with pep band, she has enjoyed lots of friends

and being involved. 4.0 also. Heather has aged
out of City Sports, but would love to play
Soccer and Basketball.

Carl Bloch

We had a neat opportunity today to visit the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU art museum. He was a 19th century Danish artist who painted a series about the life of Christ. These paintings are loved and used a lot by the Mormon church. I've seen them in church foyers, used in lessons, and we probably have some in our gospel art prints binder. The originals are owned by the Lutheran church in Denmark and are spread out all over Denmark and a few in Sweden as alter paintings in their churches. Here are some of my favorites:

“God helps me—that’s what I think, and then I am calm.” ~Carl Heinrich Bloch

One of my favorites was The Daughter of Jairus. The mother sits by her daughter’s bedside, despairing—a tear runs down her cheek. She does not notice that Christ has appeared in the doorway. The sun is rising behind him, illuminating him and foreshadowing the marvelous and miraculous event that is about to occur.

The Savior in Gethsemane

The Nativity (I love most traditional paintings of the Nativity)

The Spirit was strong and there were people from different faiths there which was neat. Scott played his usual art museum games with the boys using clues to find certain paintings and asked them lots of questions to help teach them. Heather came with us, but was a little bored because she went with some friends a different time. Laura was at softball practice.

Ready, set, go!

Okay, so I finally have something to blog about. In preschool, Daniel has been learning about transportation and today he was in his Transportation Theme parade. All the kids (two class's together) came to school with their homemade cars, rockets, planes, tractors, and even a huge shark fighter plane. They were darling as they walked around the block wearing their creations. I love this idea and may use it with my own preschool:) I hope Daniel didn't notice that his car (made the night before:) was one of the more simple one's. I'm sure if Heather had to do this in her preschool she would have had something super elaborate. Daniel, being the youngest of five, is subject to busy family life and I simply didn't have the time or energy. Can you tell I'm feeling a bit guilty? Maybe next time...

Staging area in the back yard.

Here comes Daniel!

There they go--around the block.

Here they come back!

Daniel with friends/neighbors Mackell and Jackson.

Up On The House Top...

I've been kind of sad to not have a bunch of little kids underfoot anymore. Yes, there is a lot of stress with mothering the little one's. (There is a lot of stress with the older one's too!) :) But I love young children in general and really miss having a few at home. Daniel is only 5 and has a late birthday, so at least he's still at home.

Over the last few days I've started realizing how wonderful it is to have older kids and teenagers too! Our boys have been pretty good at raking and bagging leaves, and Laura volunteered to put the Christmas lights up! Yay! ( I like our older kids for other reasons too!) This has always been such an ordeal in our home. Scott will do it because he knows I like it, but hates it. And if I wait for him to be ready to do it they will be put up on Christmas eve. (I'm only exaggerating a little) Usually I will put lights up around our porch before Thanksgiving and hope that Scott will do the rest soon after. Now I won't need to wait again! Laura had a blast and she even had a couple of visitors come and help as she worked on the house.

Laura starting out.

Not wanting her picture taken again.

Our cat, Ninja, climbed a tree and hung out with her.

Laura was too afraid to use a ladder. I was concerned 

about her breaking the branches so she had to overcome that fear pretty quickly:)

Our neighbor Katherine came over another day to

help finish up.

Laura and Katherine completing the job. Ryan wanted to help
but they wouldn't let the boys come up and help at all.
Why can't they be this excited about indoor chores? I guess
I'll take what I can get!

Laura even wrote a song about her experiences. It's to the tune 'Up On The House Top' Here it is:

(It's dumb I know, just humor us) :)

Up on the house top Laura almost dies,

Down below her mother cries.

Branches swinging in her face,       (it was windy part of the time)

But all the lights are in their place.

chorus

Ho Ho Ho Laura saved the day!

Ho Ho Ho she wouldn't play!

Up On The House Top the lights are up,

Down she came without a thump!

Caught in the act!

My girls NEVER let me take pictures of them playing their instruments. I snuck up on them the other day and took this. Cool! It's so neat to have music in our home again:)

I love this picture of this little gerbil. The kids named her Kitty and she is one of three we are keeping. So cute.

I just had to share this! A while back Sugar Doodle posted a craft/treat idea on facebook.  I don't remember what the blog was it originally came from, but I thought it was so cute. I decided to give one to the ladies I Visit Teach. Muffins in a jar! I made pumpkin bread muffins and layered them with frosting and sprinkles in an 8 oz canning jar. I put a cupcake liner in the lid (like people do with fabric). I couldn't find any Fall cupcake liners ( I mean it was already late October! Heaven forbid there be any left at the store!) so I just used the white one's I found at the dollar store and glued fall pics from the digital scrapbook kit I used for the card on the top. The card is made from a digital scrapbook kit and the bags I got from Macey's. They're just their apple bags. I got them for 5 cents a piece. (But I think they normally charge 10 or 12 cents) I made the potpourri too. So easy. Dry apple and orange slices in an oven on 200* for 5-6 hours or so. Add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Put in a pot or metal bowl, cover with water, and simmer. You can even use fresh fruit and add vanilla. Smells soooo good!

Belated Halloween Post

This is late! Sorry Grandparents:) Halloween was fun. On Halloween day Scott carved pumpkins with the kids and took them to the pumpkin patch and corn maze at "Vineyard" garden center in Orem. Heather and I stayed home. Laura, Ryan, Jake, and Daniel went trick or treating. It hailed and rained at first and after a while Daniel wanted to go home. Then the others came back and all four of them went out again with Scott. Then Scott, Jake, and Daniel came home and Laura and Ryan stayed out a little longer. (Musical trick or treating!) In the mean time a "billion" kids came to our door throughout the night. It was a lively, festive, and fun night!

 Scott, Jake , and Ryan carving pumpkins. I think the

pumpkin on the hay bale looks like Bishop Tucket:)

Jake and Daniel in the corn maze

Laura loving getting her picture taken.

Teenage thing??

Ryan out of the maze.

Jake, Daniel, and Ryan. Ryan is being a

good sport:)

Jake feeding the goats.

Daniel-tiger, Jake-Ninja, Ryan-Mad Hatter

Laura-Not sure?? She sewed her own tunic

with a black and gold patterned fabric, wore a black

cape that I made years ago, black pants and shirt, and

black boots. Something Lord of the Ringsish. Like

an elf. Ryan is The Mad Hatter in the school play.

Daniel's Jacks

Halloween is such a fun time of year for kids (And their mommies!) Here is a classic craft my kids always seem to love. It's great for fine motor development as well!

I love my kid's projects on my walls. (And cupboards!)

Daniel's Halloween Party Pictures

What a fun Halloween party Daniel had! He invited a few neighborhood friends (Jade, we missed you!) to come over for some fun games and treats. We started out inside decorating goodie bags and making a small craft. Then we played musical pumpkins. I laid out pumpkin shapes on the floor with numbers on them. When the music stopped I called out a number and whoever had that number got a treat and sat down. We also did some stick puppet "finger plays" to some songs on the Wee Sing Halloween CD. A CD I highly recommend to anyone with young children. It also has recipes and craft ideas. Fun CD! I also read some Halloween picture books at the beginning and the end of the party. The kids had a great time! 

Decorating Goodie Bags.

Making a pumpkin craft.

                                                                

                 Making a spider web with black yarn and my help!                 

    They loved these silly glasses!

           

       Taking a break inside for a festive snack. 

 Back outside for a game of "Ghost, Ghost, Witch!" 

                          

        

 The kids were acting silly and laid down during the game! 

                

          Ghost Bowling.  

        

Cute decorated goody bags. The basket had the treats and toys they received after playing a game:)

 Relay Race

Darling five year olds all dressed up!