Sleeping In A Box

If your mom lets you keep a giant box in your bedroom, you should sleep in it. Right?

Evidently Addy thinks it is a good idea.

We are headed to Moab today. Wish us luck. 

For some reason I can envision us with a bunch of little hot, whiny, cranky hikers. 

In The Bathtub - Clothes and All

I think that most of my babies have done this at some point but this was a first for Isaac.

 Ian got in the bathtub without closing the door tightly behind him. So, of course, Isaac made his way into the bathroom. A couple of minutes later Ian was yelling that Isaac was in the bathtub with his clothes on. He had climbed in head first and was elated with himself.

I Downloaded Some Videos - Here Are Two

This is a video of Isaac that I took in the middle of April. He has made up his own sign language and noise for the word more. He sort of does it twice in this video. The first time he signs it by putting his index finger on the palm of his other hand. That isn't the real sign but it is what he does every time so we all know what it means now. The second time, he makes the noise. It is a high pitched sound and it is always the same. Usually he does the two things together but we couldn't get him to do it when we pulled out the camera.

The second video is of Addy. The video is bad because I was holding Isaac and she is hard to understand but she was so cute that I want to remember it. She gathered the whole family together before bedtime one evening. Then she proceeded to tell us a story of Jesus calming the sea. I love that she starts out by welcoming us all to family home evening and telling us to find a place to sit. It wasn't family home evening that night. She obviously has some wonderful primary teachers.

Summer is Here

Last year I started a new summer tradition. I blogged about it here. It went so well that I decided to do it again. When the kids and Jared got home from school, (Yes, we saw Jared on the last day of school. We love his new job.) I had a surprise waiting for them. Just like last year they each had a folder with a list of things that they can choose to do this summer. The prize this year is a year long pass to Seven Peaks Water Parks and Trafalga Fun Centers. Because it is a year long pass, we are going to try and use it several times this summer. Jared and I will determine how many check marks the kids have to earn to go on the next scheduled trip and then they can choose to earn it if they want to.

Today the kids were wonderful in the morning. We started packing for our trip to Moab and they helped out a lot. But as the day wore on, their pleasant attitudes went downhill. As soon as we let them play, they started fighting about every imaginable thing. At one point I finally sent all of their friends home and put them all to work. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

This Week

This is the last week of school, which always means life is a bit crazy. Although I do have to say that it has seemed a bit less crazy this year. I think it must have something to do with Jared's new job. The high school is just so full of activities at this time of year so it is nice to have him around a bit more this year.

Ian has done really well in school this year. His reading has improved a great deal and he test the highest out of all of the first graders in his school on the end-of-year math test. On Tuesday Ian performed in his school's talent show. He played Beethoven's 5th Symphony and he did a great job. He loves doing this kind of stuff. Is he really related to me? I would have been terrified to do anything in front of the whole student body. On Wednesday Ian got to go to a friends end-of-school party. He was in heaven!

 Olivia had her end of year gymnastics review on Tuesday. She hates doing anything in front of people (much more like me) but she was actually quite excited for this program. She is really excelling in gymnastics and she performed so well. She is one of only a few girls in her class to be invited to join the pre-team class and she will be doing that this summer but I doubt we will continue with it after the summer. It is a much bigger time and financial commitment. On Wednesday she also received an award at school for good grades. Way to go!

 Today I attended Chandler's award's program. He received awards for good grades, high math scores, and accelerated reading points. Chandler got 949.4 accelerated reading points this year which also earned him a $10 Walmart gift card. He earned more than double the amount of points of any other kid in the school. An average book earns a student 10 AR points. Do you think he likes to read?

Up A Tree

This is one of our favorite places to take a break when we are hiking up Settlement Canyon.

Painting in the Tub

This has become a fairly frequent activity for Addy and Isaac during the day.

I simply add a bit of food coloring to some cheap shaving creme, 

put the kids in the bathtub with some pastry brushes, and let them have at it.

I'm sure I got the idea of Pinterest or some other website because I generally don't come up with fun ideas by myself but I'm horrible at remembering and, therefore, giving credit.

 I'm sure that this has become such a frequent activity because of the need for Isaac to have frequent baths. He always seems to have food in hair, boogers on his face, or worse.

He is at such a messy age. Cute....but messy.

And I wouldn't recommend this activity if you don't like your kids to eat shaving creme.

Isaac usually eats a fair amount.