Daddy Date

Brian took the kids on a date the other weekend to the space museum. They had fun and enjoyed the special attention from Dad. He treated them to a picnic and ice cream!

 Zoey got her first haircut at a "Salon".. she loved it! She even got to pick a bouncy ball!

Pi Day and other Spring Happenings

March 14 celebrates Pi Day (3.14). We made a banana cream pie, which barely made it to the table in individual dishes. Calvin approved of the finger licking goodness…

I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by making green eggs and ham for breakfast, outfitting the kids in green, and planting some green house plants for my bathroom! 

Zoey's love for crafts keeps me hopping. Yesterday she wanted to make hats and this is what we came up with for Zoey and Eli (spring flowers and a nest). They showed them off to our neighbor Betty who said they were cool and gave them a cookie...

                  

I did a ladies craft night with my mom and sister and some other gals last night and we made these fun Easter signs. I got all my Eater decorations out and I'm ready for Spring!!

Grandma Gray came to visit the other night with temple shaped sugar cookies. Brian was out of town and she helped with the other kids while I put Isaac to bed. Jackson wanted to draw his own temple and made this rendition with tulips in front. He's a great artist and thinks of the details! 

We started sleep training Isaac last weekend. he had started waking 4 times a night. I've noticed lately that when he wakes up at night, he's not really hungry, he just wants help to get back to sleep. As I was working with Isaac the other night to calm him down, his cry seemed to sound like he was whimpering "why? why?" It was so sad. It's so hard but he's ready.  SO the hard decision to move forward with sleep training was made! A few days in and he can make it until about 4am. I'm hoping withing another month or so he will cut that feeding out as well. He's a happy baby and has been laughing and smiling a lot more lately! 

Isaac had an allergic reaction to something. He was covered in hives and his eyes were practically swollen shut. Poor Guy. We're thinking it might be peanuts coming through in my breast milk? I've been eating more than usual lately a post-run snack, other than that nothing in our diet or household has changed, so I can't figure it out. I cut the peanut butter and he was better within 3 days...who knows! Zoey was the most concerned about his new look and asked if I still loved him. Ha ha! I had to explain it was only temporary, but of course I would still love him even if it wasn't. We had a talk about how love is not an expression because of the way we look...but about the way we feel about who someone is. 

Isaac's Blessing Day

Today was a special day for our family! Brian was able to give a name and blessing to Isaac. We love having him in our home and enjoyed the spirit of the meeting. It was a special blessing and special day. We were glad to be surrounded by family and friends who could make it.

 Last week was our first time in over 12 weeks to attend all 3 meetings together as a family. It was a rough winter of sickness, having a baby and recovering, and more sickness!  I was (still am) overwhelmed with the idea of having all 5 kids at church, with our oldest only 6 years old and wondering how we will manage it. So here marks the first of many Sundays ahead of us as a complete family…I wish my future self GOOD LUCK!

Isaac is almost 3 months now, smiling tons, catching a few laughs here and there, starting to roll over and not sleeping very well at night yet (although we plan to get that resolved soon)!

February is Over!

Grandma and Grandpa Gray are some of the coolest grandparents around! I hope we have spunk like this for our grandkids! They threw a party celebrating the coldest part of the year being over! It was fun to have a party for "no reason" although I think getting through winter is plenty enough of a reason to have a party! We are so looking forward to Spring!

It was a Hawaiian themed party and we all dressed up in our Hawaiian garb and swimsuits. Zoey said it felt like we were really going to Hawaii! The kids are saying "aloha" in the picture!

 Grandma and Grandpa have a hot tub in their garage, so we were able to enjoy a nice warm soak. It was nicely decorated.  The kids are looking forward to pool days and suntans now...

We ate Hawaiian haystacks for dinner with Hawaiian fruit on the side. The kids enjoyed special pineapple cups, and my mom had a Hawaiian beach themed cake for dessert! Eli had 3 servings! He ate nonstop!

 Calvin enjoyed getting out of the house. We've been hunkered down for the winter with the newborn and Calvin hasn't been out much. The older kids get to have a break at school or running errands with dad sometimes, but poor Calvin has been cooped up for way too long! he liked being somewhere new. It was a fun evening!

G' Day Mate!

Our final destination! Australia!

We finally got around to doing our Australia Day. I had waited to do it because part of the lesson involved a "special guest" but then we got sick and he got sick and things just didn't line up until this week. We learned about the country's flag, location, and general information a few weeks ago, and then finished up the lesson last night with our food and crafts.

We took a hand at speaking "Straylan". My favorite word is "ankle biter" used for what we call a toddler, but it's not on the list.

Zoey made a Australian paper doll.

The kids all made Kangaroos. They each wanted a family, so they had a mom, dad, and baby in the pouch… although that's not how it works in real life, but oh well!

Our  guest speaker was uncle Danny! He shared with us pictures and videos of his trip to Australia this past summer. The kids enjoyed hearing about his adventures. He got scuba certified and a friend he traveled with had go-pro video clips of them scuba diving in the great barrier reef. It was cool for the kids to see underwater sea life.

We made pavlova for dessert. Mine turned out picture perfect! Just kidding. I didn't realize the recipe was printed in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, and after an hour of the dessert sitting in the oven doing nothing, it dawned on me to double check the temperature. When I realized my mistake, I tried to fix the heat, but ended up burning the top layer. The kids said it tasted like a roasted marshmallow. Ha ha! 

It's been fun exploring the different countries and cuisines, although I don't think any will make it into our routine dinner cycle. 

This concludes our unit on cultures and countries! It's been fun…a lot of work, but fun!

We're moving on to seasons and reading and traditional school studies, so I won't be posting much more about our mom-school, even though we are still holding it when we can. Zoey got registered for Kindergarten today! I'm excited for her and think she's well prepared for it!

2 months old!

Isaac turns 2 months old tomorrow! He is a sweetheart! His Valentine to me is his smile :) 

 He has been smiling for about 3 weeks! It is such a reward to see him smile at me. I always feel like he's telling me "Thank you for taking care of me!" It makes all the nightly feedings and tired crazy moments worth it. I love seeing a personality emerging from him, and knowing that he won't always be a baby that only knows how to cry for communication. His smiles are SO HARD to get on camera. But they are HUGE and they make me happy. 

He loves to be held and is one of our cuddliest babies we've had. I love this profile picture and his cute button nose.

My mom has made a quilt for each of her grandchildren. Isaac's quilt has been my favorite so far - I love the green chevron print and the animals (it matches perfectly with his room). I used it for a backdrop to these photos: he looks so handsome! 

And to every pediatricians horror, I'm sure, I put my babies to sleep on their tummy. They sleep better. I honestly try to do back-sleep thing and it just doesn't work for us. I really wanted Isaac to be a back sleeper, because it's safer and all, but after a while of fighting it, I finally rolled him to his tummy and he's been happy there ever since…until last week! I went in to nurse him for his nightly feedings and each time I went into his room, he was face-up! I have been watching him try to roll over and thought, "no, way..that's not what he's doing, he's too young!" I was expecting that to happen after 3 months, but sure enough, there he was! He's done it a few times subconsciously in his sleep. It's weird to go get him, expecting him to be on his tummy, and have him on his back instead! Maybe he'll be like Jackson and be a quick mover, walking at 9 months. We'll see..

Russia

Jackson has noticed how much fun he were having learning about the countries and begged to be involved in the next one we studied…Russia! I was surprised he knew it's location on the globe! Russia has 11 different time zones- crazy! They each made a book with the country, flag, and unique things about Russia- like the furry hats and snow and stuff....

We talked about Faberge eggs and nesting dolls and made a paper card version:

We talked about Russian ballet (world famous and best ballet is from Russia) and the Russian kick dance. The kids found out how hard it is to do! We watched a video of some Russian's performing this for like 5 minutes and I was amazed their leg muscles could handle it for that long! It's a serious thigh and calf toner!

We talked about Russian Cathedrals and learned that the ornate and unique dome tops represent a candle flame burning. We made beef stroganoff for dinner- a huge hit! We tried to avoid the beet borscht stew that Russia is so famous for…Brian isn't a fan :) I was going to make cream puffs, but ran out of time and energy to do it…

 Next and last country/continent is Australia!

Walk Like an Egyptian...

On Thursday, we took a "stroll" through the next country Zoey chose to learn about--Egypt! Zoey and Eli learned that Egypt is part of the Sahara desert, what the flag looks like, and modern day Egyptian culture…but their favorite part was talking about the pyramids, the Nile, Pharaohs, hieroglyphics, hippos and camels.

Zoey took a stab at writing her name in hieroglyphics.

We made golden neck ornaments that Pharaohs would have worn. Theirs were probably not as cool as ours made out of macaroni and paper plates and gold spray paint though!

We made hummus and pita bread and had Egyptian style kabobs for dinner. Brian and Zoey helped with the meal (she loves to wear her apron)! It was delicious!

The same foods of rice and potatoes, chicken and tomatoes, carrots and onions keep popping up in all the different cuisines we have studied, but they are just prepared in different ways. It's so interesting how the same foods can taste so dramatically different depending on its preparation and spices used.

It has been a great experience to see the kids learn about how different the world is from the "world" that they know- our little town of Lindon Utah. Zoey is wondering why not everyone is white and speaks English. It's a fun and interesting way to teach about our differences!

Long Live England

England was the next country she chose to study. Of course….it's an island! We learned that even though it's an island, because it's closer to the north pole, it is colder than the tropical islands she has  learned about. Cold and rainy! 

We talked about the royal family, Windsor castle and Buckingham Palace and made a "Queen's Crown". She really liked that…it sounds so fairy tale! YouTube is really handy to show videos of England so we can have a virtual trip!

We talked about the royal guard, Big Ben, and Union Jack (Jackson has since claimed it as his favorite flag because it has part of his name in it!)...

 And we made pot pie for dinner. The kids' favorite meal so far! I wish I had a picture of Zoey helping me make it. She helped cut carrots and celery, and saute the onions in butter. It was exciting for her! She was a great help in the kitchen! No tea though…maybe I should have had ourselves a pretend tea party. That would have been really British!

Colombia Day!

From Cuba, we took our learning travels to Colombia! 

 

We learned that it is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world! Accounting for the most diverse species of animals, plants and insects found anywhere else. We enjoyed learning about the amazon and made art projects of tropical rainforest birds.. they were proud of their creations. 

We talked about the people and culture and made shakers and drums to perform in our own marimba band! 

 We made Colombian style empenadas (meat and potatoes wrapped in corn flour dough and fried in oil), rice and beans with olives on the side. I am surprised the kids are adaptable to these ethnic foods we've been trying. The empenadas were yummy! I wonder what I'm going to do when we go to Russia?!?

Next stop- England!