January 2015

MADELINE

When we were playing Creationary, Maddy got the word Taj Mahal.  I was amazed she knew what it was.

She even put in a little coffin for the dead queen.

Maddy after she lost her first front tooth, and then after losing the second.   Maddy loves to learn and is doing 2nd grade math right now which she tells me is "too easy."  Her reading has also come a long way and we just finished reading The Secret Garden together.


AUDREY

Audrey is all sweetness and smiles.  Here are a few I was able to catch on camera.

She enjoys bath time.   You can tell from the pictures how long and thin she is.   She is in the 75% for height and the 15% for weight.

Audrey is definitely Daddy's girl.  Jared gets all her best smiles.

JARED

Jared loves his little girl and he tends to hog her during church.  They are also best sleeping buddies.  When Jared isn't cuddling Audrey he is busy organizing the garage, shopping and running errands for me, helping ward members with building projects (he has become the tool man of the ward), or busy with his new calling as the Ward Executive Secretary.    

NATHAN

Nathan is a very sweet big brother to Audrey.  Here he is reading her one of her board books while she has exercise time.

  I was helping the girls do a fan craft from their American girl books and Nathan was feeling left out, so Jared did a "boy craft" with Nathan.  They made this rocket.  Nathan loves doing "boy" stuff, which is basically anything that Dad does.  He loves to imitate his dad in every way.  Jared loves Star Wars, Legos, archery, seaweed, sauerkraut, and pickles, so Nathan does too.  At the park Jared ran around the half mile track, so Nathan wanted to do it too.  He had to stop a few times to catch his breath, but he made it the whole way!

ABIGAIL

Abby is growing up way too fast.  Her appetite is huge and she seems to be quickly outgrowing all her clothes.  She loves crafts, Activity Days, and reading.  I love that she is old enough to enjoy some of my favorite books.  Right now we are reading Little Women together.  She is excelling at the piano and has been busy learning Hanon exercises and teaching herself Primary songs.  We have started giving her the lesson topic for our Family Home Evenings so she can learn a song a week in advance to accompany us as we sing.  

MAYBORN MUSEUM

Each Friday afternoon we have a "fun Friday" for homeschool.   We bought a pass to the Mayborn Museum and it has become one of our favorite places to go, especially if the weather is bad.

There is an amazing Natural History section.  Here are the kids with the skull of a humpback whale.

Here they are with a giant sea turtle fossil.

There is a fun Children's Museum play area.

There is also a room that teaches them about different cultures around the world.

The kids love the Old West room where they can dress up like early settlers.  I don't have pictures, but there is also a Historic Village outside the museum where the kids enjoyed looking at old houses, schools, stores, and churches.

Playing in the water/bubble room.

Having fun in the music room as they dance on a giant piano.

The kids also enjoyed the Magic School bus exhibit about weather.  Here they are dressed up and pretending to be weather anchors on the news.

ZOO

When the weather is good, we like to spend fun Fridays at the zoo.  The gibbons were especially fun to watch, and what could be more fun than crawling through a giant snake?

HOMESCHOOL FUN

In order to help the kids be more active I started including exercise on their homeschool task lists.   Like me, they hate the cold, so I let them do their exercises inside on cold  days.  Here are Abby and Maddy doing Yoga to my workout video.

In history we learned about gold and diamond mines in South Africa, so the kids decided to make their own mine out of blankets and chairs with glass jewels and gold nuggets made out of glitter glue.

MARY
I don't have any pictures since Jared isn't big on picture taking.  I stay busy with cooking, cleaning, and homeschooling.  I have felt a little isolated with homeschooling since there is nothing like Homelink here and most of the co-ops here require me to sign a statement of faith that I don't agree with.  For now, I think I'll just put the kids in gymnastics and other lessons so they can have a little more interaction with other kids and start making some friends.  I am enjoying my new calling as Primary Secretary which is forcing me to get to know a lot of the children in the ward.   My favorite thing right now are my sweet Audrey cuddles and smiles.